Kopblok Houthaven/Frame Amsterdam

Location:	Amsterdam
Architect:	Frits van Dongen
Designer:	Van Dongen Koschuch Architects and Planners
Client:	ERA-Contour
Project type:	architecture
Material:	façade elements
Product:	Facade tiles with gold glaze

The gold glaze which is used for "Kopblok Houthaven/Frame" was developed more than 10 years ago for the building de Pontsteiger in Amsterdam. A currently iconic building on the IJ that you can see from afar. In the long run-up time to the realization of this building one wished a different appearance and changed from glaze. The building located next to the Pontsteiger "Kopblok houthaven/Frame" now has façade cladding with this glaze. This kind of glaze is also used on the bricks for the Olympic Hotel, located at the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam and for bathroom tiles of the Tiara Hotel in Dubai. This is how you can see where to the development of a special glaze, the distinctive of Koninklijke Tichelaar, can lead.

The building is the termination of the differentiated collection of higher and lower buildings of the first building strip in this area. As the head building of this strip, the building is all-sided and shows a sleek, stony façade structure that creates a 'framed view' of port and city through the large glass surfaces and deep negates of the façade from the inside. The gold-bronze tint and materiality of the facades reinforce the warm and intimate atmosphere and expression of the building.