Uniting an urban forest with a state-of-the-art office tower, a high-quality residential building, and public facilities including cafés and restaurants, a cinema, and a supermarket, The Pulse embodies a new vision of city life.
4767 kilograms of waste have been upcycled into Nougat WasteBasedSlips for the interior of the ground floor of this already iconic building in Amsterdam South.
Header photo credit: Max Hart Nibbrig
Completed, 2025.
The fully integrated design from MVSA, VMX, and DELVA for VORM Development and EDGE Technologies was the winning concept in the competition for a new 56,000 m² ‘gateway’ to the city’s Kenniskwartier (‘knowledge quarter’).
The development consists of two towers: one office (by MVSA) and one residential (by VMX Architects) atop a plinth that joins them and houses the leisure functions. On top of the plinth, and between the two towers, there is an urban forest at a height of 35 metres above the ground.
In the plinth, the FRONT® Nougat Raw & Sliced WasteBasedSlips (from our previous Crossover project) have been installed on the interior wall of the ground floor. ‘The Blurring Zone’ forms a 125-metre-long public interior with multiple entrances from offices and residences that intersect with a food court, lobby and cinema complex, creating one continuous, publicly accessible ground floor without partitions.
This allows users to move freely between functions and experience the space as an indoor extension of the city.
The City of Amsterdam set high standards for the new development, from the quality of the homes to circularity and sustainability, urban nature, mobility, and public facilities. The Pulse meets all these requirements.
Sustainability is leading for both the urban development and the design of architectural firms MVSA and VMX. Sustainable materials have been used, and the building is completely self-sufficient and energy neutral.
The Pulse will develop into a sustainable urban biotope and receive a BREEAM Outstanding certificate.
A soft yellow tone with a hint of warm pink. Nougat is the 21st-century answer to London Stock Bricks.
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