Sarphatistraat Offices
Steven Holl Architects

Photo: arcspace
The new addition to the renovated Singel Gracht building, the former Federal Warehouse of Medical Supplies, has replaced one of the outbuildings on the canal side of the four - story brick "U" building.

A new boardwalk with public benches and a row of special cypress trees along the canal marks the new public space.


Photo: arcspace

The new large conference room pavilion, available to the public for weddings, meetings, and other events, has been built directly on the foundation wall of the new mechanical parking system (capacity 48 cars).


Photo: arcspace

Photo: arcspace

Sponge-like spaces in a plan and section were developed with passages, storage, etc., located between the perforated walls. The building scale of the pavilion is thus related to detail scales in the renovation.


Photo: arcspace

Photo: arcspace

The concept of "Patterns in a Chromatic Field", inscribed in a rectangular "sponge", establishes a series of perspectival overlapping interior spaces animated by "phenomenal screens of color." The screens form a spatial and experiential frame containing services such as lighting, supply and return air grilles.

The perforated screens developed in three dimensions are analogous to the "Menger Sponge" principle of openings continuously cut in planes approaching zero volume.


Photo: arcspace

Photo courtesy Steven Holl Architects

Sketch courtesy Steven Holl Architects