Parkrand building, Amsterdam

Year:	2006 -2007
Location:	Amsterdam
Designer:	Jacob van Rijs (MVRDV)
Project type:	architecture
Product:	glazed masonry brick

The Parkrand housing construction project, which MVRDV designed when commissioned by the Het Oosten housing association, consists of five linked tower-blocks, thereby creating three enclosed spaces. Koninklijke Tichelaar was asked to propose solutions for cladding the internal façades of the buildings. The basic glaze had to be white but not perfect, and the pattern had to be subtly distinguishable. During the production of twenty test samples, it appeared that on some bricks the glaze had shrunk so much that the bare surface became visible. Jacob van Rijs, one of the partners in MVRDV, asked us to continue working on this, which led to the development of a ‘drip glaze’. The signposting designed by the Thonik design firm was integrated into the white surface of the glazed façade by means of stencils and transfers.