Amsterdam, The Netherlands | FRONT®

Connected Circularity at Crossover in Amsterdam

Kop Zuidas in Amsterdam

CROSSOVER is a multifunctional concept facilitating new personal and professional lifestyles of local and international residents, doers, collaborators, thinkers and innovators in a surprising mixed-use, energy-neutral building combining living, working, learning and sharing.

The mix of functions and target groups in CROSSOVER lays the foundation for the further development of ‘Kop Zuidas’ in Amsterdam.

This sub-area is located on the east side of the ‘Zuidas’ along Europaboulevard, near the A10 Zuid highway exit and the RAI convention centre and is set to become a lively city district in the coming years.

The municipality of Amsterdam set high standards for sustainability and architecture for the development of this location.

After a public selection procedure, area and real estate developer AM gave the best interpretation of the requirements of the municipality with its tender, after a design by Team V Architecture.

The architects of Team V took the sustainability challenge to heart and approached FRONT® during the design stage to help think about realising the façade.

Location
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Client
AM
Design
Team V
Construction
BAM
Application
Facades
Facade Builders

LEEBO

Impact

Waste upcycled with this project 177.643 kg
Connected Circularity at Crossover in Amsterdam || StoneCycling
Nov 2022 - Credit: Marcel Steinbach

Nougat WasteBasedSlips

The building has a different character on each side, but due to a well-thought-out façade grid, it clearly forms a whole.

This project fueled our creativity to develop a solution that meets not just the sustainability criteria but also has a high aesthetic value.

We developed a concept that will efficiently cover the entire façade with Nougat Sliced WasteBasedSlips. Here, the full brick will essentially be cut into brick slips of various sizes and shapes.

The inside of our Nougat Raw WasteBasedBricks is aesthetically exciting in and of itself, so we mix both types of slips together to create one unifying façade.

The building will receive a materials passport and is thus registered with Madaster. This way, when the building will be permanently demolished at the end of its life, the materials can be reused again.

CROSSOVER started construction in 2021 and will be completed in 2023.

Connected Circularity at Crossover in Amsterdam || StoneCycling
Mar 2023 - Credit: Marcel Steinbach
Connected Circularity at Crossover in Amsterdam || StoneCycling

Community & Flexibility

CROSSOVER offers over 250 households new and affordable living space, with additional workplaces (both regular offices as flexible spaces for starters, scale-ups and freelancers), space for small-scale (neighbourhood-oriented) facilities as well as catering.

The housing program consists largely of studios for students, young starters and status holders, who will benefit from shared facilities such as a laundry room, living room, communal roof terraces and shared electric cars.

The double plinth comprises an appealing co-working concept, which is connected to spaces for creative makers, a café-restaurant on the ground floor and approximately 10,000 m² of flexible office spaces at the top.

With the aim to bring people together, the CROSSOVER project is not just contemporary but also focuses on our future. In response to our rapidly changing society, the building has been designed for its changing use.

CROSSOVER is characterised by spaces where barriers are broken down and where movement between different spaces is stimulated. Communal spaces are created in which coliving, coworking and co-creation meet. This means that working, living and learning alternate and the open social spaces offer the opportunity to easily come into contact with others.

Because not all house-separating walls serve as structural walls, residential units can be combined relatively easily into larger apartments.

Office spaces can also be flexibly arranged so that they can be rented out to one large tenant or to several small tenants.

Connected Circularity at Crossover in Amsterdam || StoneCycling
Nov 2022 - Credit: Marcel Steinbach

Technical Solutions

Various variants of the façade were considered during the design process. The façade must meet a number of preconditions, the horizontal brick grid is aligned with the ceiling, the façade must be able to absorb the deflection of the underlying steel construction and there is a high noise level.

In particular, the deflection and the piercing of the floor edge have resulted in a steel frame construction system being used in combination with HSB. The system can absorb the variable load and the complex connection with the floor.

The façade finishes are our WasteBasedSlips, glued to an aluminium sub-construction, which are hung from the steel frame. The windows are finished by means of aluminium frames.

Prefabricated building elements are used as much as possible to minimise the loss of raw materials.

Connected Circularity at Crossover in Amsterdam || StoneCycling

BREEAM Outstanding

Sustainability and circularity are broad concepts, and the CROSSOVER design is based on a wide range of sustainability ambitions. The main spearheads are energy neutrality, sustainable mobility, future flexibility, use of green space and health.

The diagonally rising roof terraces provide more daylight and transparency into the residential street, a healthy green outdoor space for residents and users and they serve as a buffer and storage place for rainwater.

Circularity is reflected in various ways; flexibility (the office tower is prepared for redesign), use of materials (the design contains various materials with a low environmental impact, including our WasteBasedBricks), re-montability (the office tower has a steel structure and many elements are prefabricated) and renewable energy sources (the use of solar panels and water-saving solutions).

Partly because of these types of solutions, CROSSOVER scores high on sustainability, with a BREEAM-NL Outstanding certificate as its aim. The target score is 88%.

The sustainability ambitions have been rigidly adhered to during the process. This label applies not only to the offices but to the entire CROSSOVER building, making CROSSOVER the first multifunctional building in the Netherlands with a BREEAM Outstanding label.

Connected Circularity at Crossover in Amsterdam || StoneCycling
Nov 2022 - Credit: Marcel Steinbach

Media Mentions

  • CROSSOVER KOP ZUIDAS [teamv.nl]
  • CROSSOVER [am.nl]
  • CrossOver Kop Zuidas [archello.com]
  • Kop Zuidas: bouwen aan een duurzame wijk [zuidas.nl]
  • Zuidas krijgt met bouw CROSSOVER nieuwe impuls [zuidas.nl]
  • CROSSOVER Kop Zuidas [breeam.nl]
  • Zuidas krijgt met CROSSOVER multifunctioneel complex met veel sociale huurwoningen [nul20.nl]
  • Team V ontwerpt CROSSOVER, mixed-use op de Zuidas [dearchitect.nl]
  • Gemeente Amsterdam selecteert AM voor mixed use ontwikkeling in Zuidas [bam.com]

We set the bar high for the development of this location, with strong ambitions in the field of sustainability, architecture and the mix of housing, offices and facilities.

David Van Traa, Director Zuidas, Municipality Of Amsterdam

We are very pleased that we have translated the ambition of the City of Amsterdam for a distinctive living, working and residential area for this location in an original way into the CROSSOVER concept - with bold sustainability and innovations.

Ronald Huikeshoven, CEO Of AM