Amsterdam, Netherlands, is to become home to three terraced, cliff-like towers dripping with greenery. Envisaged by architects MVRDV, the Ravel Plaza design won a competition for the development of a plot in the Zuidas Business District area of the city. It will house offices, residences and amenities.
Many of MVRDV's past projects have had visually striking and green elements, with examples including the Peruri 88 "vertical Jakarta" tower, Vienna's Turm mit Taille and the recent Seoul Skygarden designs. The Ravel Plaza design, worked up in partnership with OVG Real Estate as the developer, incorporates both of these features.
"The houses have bay windows with beautiful views and large balconies with lots of vegetation, turning the whole building into a kind of village green," says co-founder and director of MVRDV Winy Maas. "We combine the quality of living in a green environment with the central location and the excitement of an urban environment in this unique location."
The three towers will integrate with the surrounding area, with public spaces said to extend into and over the buildings. CEO of OVG Real Estate Coen van Oostrom describes the development as one that will be innovative, sustainable and, to a large degree, open to the public. MVRDV says a number of the potential office and commercial tenants have already fed into the project.
Located on Beethovenstraat, adjacent to the ABN AMRO headquarters, the site covers a total floor area between 50,000 sq m (540,000 sq ft) and 75,000 sq m (810,000 sq ft). Amsterdam City Council's director of Zuidas Klaas de Boer says the "bold and distinctive" Ravel Plaza will mark a turning point in the development of Zuidas into a mixed-use area.
The competition to develop the P15 Ravel plot of land in the Zuidas Business District, run by the municipality of Amsterdam, began earlier and this year. With the Ravel Plaza design selected, the agreement between Amsterdam City Council and OVG was signed on Oct. 8.
Sources: MVRDV, City of Amsterdam