Into the Valley in Amsterdam
An urban “valley” bringing much needed greening to Amsterdam’s Zuidas Business District is due for completion this year.
MVRDV and EDGE Technologies have topped off the tallest tower of Valley which is their development of the P15 Ravel plot in the Business District. The 7,500 square-metre project gets its name from the publicly-accessible terraces spread like a valley between three mixed-use buildings
Valley is due to be finished this year. Image credit - Vero Visuals, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Zuidas has developed into a major international business centre, and Valley aims to make the urban quarter more complete and liveable, welcoming residents and public facilities over the next decade.
Valley’s buildings, varying in height to a maximum of 103-metres, include seven stories of offices and 196 apartments, as well as retail and cultural facilities, and three stories of underground parking.
The 7,500 square-metre project gets its name from the publicly-accessible terraces spread like a valley between three mixed-use buildings. Image credit - Vero Visuals, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
The offices all have floor-to-ceiling windows, and residential levels feature sliding doors, integrating the outdoor spaces into the jagged, natural stone facade.
Outdoor ceilings and terraces are also clad in natural stone, as are the fixed, automatically hydrating planters of various heights. Glass railings protect against wind and sound without impacting on panoramic views.
Valley aims to make the urban quarter more complete and liveable, Image credit - Ossip van Duivenbode.
The Grotto, a large interior space below the valley, acts as a living room for residents and a grand foyer for other activities. Publicly-accessible from the ground floor via two staircases, The Grotto is lit by two skylights which double as water-filled ponds on Valley above.
MVRDV’s aim was to create a multifunctional building, contrasting between the corporate history and residential future of Zuidas. Valley connects green sports fields with a dense urban business centre, the concept of the building, “rooted in this idea of transition.”
The buildings are clad in automatically hydrating planters. Image credit - Vero Visuals, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Landscape architect Piet Oudolf designed the vegetation, focussing on achieving a year-round green appearance, and covering the building in plants.
“The abundance of outdoor spaces and communal green areas promotes health and well-being whilst at the same time, contributes to the building’s green ambitions,” say MVRDV.
Work on the site began in 2017. Image credit - Ossip van Duivenbode.
Valley has an -0.3 EPC rating and a GPR score of eight, and is aiming for a BREEAM -NL Excellent rating.
“Now that the highest point has been reached, it is clearly visible what Valley can be: an oasis for the Zuidas,” says MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas. “You go from a corporate CBD…into a human and green environment, forming a literal and visual transition towards the city of tomorrow: a city that is green and accessible, dense and human.”
Construction began at the end of 2017.