Mid August marked the start of construction for Valley, a 75,000m2, green terraced, mixeduse building located on the Amsterdam’s Central Business District Zuidas. MVRDV’s competition winning design for OVG Real Estate was selected by the Municipality of Amsterdam in 2015 and will include apartments, offices, an underground parking, a sky bar and various retail and cultural facilities. The design andprogramme mediates between human scale, nature and the atmosphere of the business district. Completion is set for 2021.

Valley’s three peaks of varied heights reach up to a maximum of 100 meters at which the publicly accessible Sky bar sits, spread out over the top two stories, offering panoramic views over Amsterdam. The building consists of 196 apartments, 7 stories of offices, a three story underground parking with 375 parking spots and various retail and cultural facilities. From street level, a center path, running along retails functions, terraces and roof gardens, leads up to the central Valley area spread across the 4th and 5th level and surrounds the central tower. Internationally renowned landscape architect Piet Oudolf designed all of Valley’s vegetation, focusing on a year round green appearance. The project derives its name from the publicly accessible valley.

Valley’s location is defined by transition. It sits on the border between residential and commercial functions. It forms the connection between green sports fields and the dense urban setting of the business center and it initiates the change from the smaller scaled buildings of the inner city to the large volumes that define the South-axis. The concept of the building is rooted in this idea of transition.

By placing the residential volumes on top of the multifunctional plinth and pushing them to the very edge of the envelope, the resulting volume reads as one single entity. In mirroring the corporate surroundings through its reflective exterior façade, the design acknowledges its corporate heritage and visually connects to its immediate neighbours. In direct contrast to this, the inner façade is defined by a series of rugged, stone terraces with large planters, covering the building in vegetation and bringing a sense of human scale to the volume. Through this opposing treatment of the facades, the duality of the resulting volume, which is reminiscent of a carved out block, is expressed: The corporate vs the residential. The XL vs. the human scale.

“Valley combines residential apartments with a green environment that offers panoramic views of Amsterdam”, says Winy Maas, MVRDV cofounder. “A lively plinth offering a range of commercial activities has some offices above and is topped finally with residences. The carving out of the resulting block ensures that it becomes less introverted than existing buildings in the Zuidas. There will be many terraces, both private and public, filled with people, flowers, plants and outdoor seating.”

The abundance of outdoor spaces and communal green area’s promotes health and well being whilst at the same time, contributes to the buildings green ambitions. In addition to a -0.3 EPC rating and a GPR score of 8, Valley will aim for a BREEAM-NL Excellent rating.

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