2. ARCHITECTS- PLP ARCHITECTURE
LOCATION -THE ZUIDAS,AMSTERDAM,THE
NETHERLANDS
AREA -40000.0 SQM
FLOORS - 15
PROJECT YEAR -2015
CLIENT -OVG REAL ESTATE
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER -VAN ROSSUM
CONSULTING ENGINEERS
MEP CONSULTANT -DEERNS
LOCAL ARCHITECT -OEVER,ZAAIJER
SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT -C2N
BOUWMANAGEMENT
BUILDING PHYSICS -LBP SIGHT
LANDSCAPE DESIGN -DELTA VORM GROEP
CONTRACTOR -G&S BOUW
GLASS FAÇADE -ROLLECATE
GLASS ROOF -BRAKEL ATMOS
INTERIOR DESIGN -FOKKEMA & PARTNERS
One of the people involved in the creation and
construction processes of The Edge is architect
RON BAKKER.
Born in the Netherlands with a degree in
architecture from Delft University of
Technology, Bakker moved to London 20 years
ago.
There he worked as a partner at architecture
firm KPF London for 17 years before co-
founding PLP Architecture in 2009.
Bakker led the design and management of
building projects and assignments in the
Netherlands (World Trade Center Amsterdam
and the new town center of Almere Poort), in
the UK and Russia.
THE
ARCHITECT
RON
BAKKER
INTRODUCTION
THE EDGE
The Edge is home to the Amsterdam HQ of
Deloitte.
Not in Tokyo, New York, Delhi, London or
Paris, but in Amsterdam you can find the
world’s most sustainable office building: The
Edge. The sophisticated design, combined
with smart and advanced technology,
resulted in a 98.36% (BREEAM-NL)
sustainability score for the building. The
Edge sheds new light on real estate in the
future: buildings that generate more energy
than they consume.
3. THE EDGE IN THE PICTURE
The Edge has everything to offer its users a pleasant workplace, in every sense of the word. The
sophisticated design creates a comfortable living environment, whilst in addition, it focuses on
sustainability and efficient energy consumption.
FIFTEEN-STORY ATRIUM
The atrium is the gravitational center of the Edge’s
solar system. Mesh panels between each floor let stale
office air spill into open space, where it rises and is
exhaled through the roof, creating a loop of natural
ventilation. Slight heat variations and air currents
make it feel like the outdoors. Even on a stormy day,
the building remains opalescent with natural light
and angles of glass.
The atrium and its iconic slanted roof, which looks
from the outside as if a wedge has been sliced off the
building, floods the workspaces with daylight and
provides a sound buffer from the adjacent highway
and train tracks. Every workspace is within 7 meters
(23 feet) of a window.
Form Evolution vs. Daylight Analysis
4. NEW WAY OF WORKING
About 2,500 Deloitte workers share 1,000 desks.
The concept is called hot desking, and it’s
supposed to encourage new relationships,
chance interactions, and, just as important,
efficient use of space.
Desks are only used when they're needed. Some
tiny rooms at the Edge contain just a lounge
chair and a lamp (no desk)—perfect for a phone
call.
There are also game rooms and coffee bars with
espresso machines that remember how you like
your coffee.
Massive flatscreens around every corner can be
synced wirelessly with any phone or laptop.
Since workers at the Edge don’t have assigned
desks, lockers serve as home base for the day.
Find a locker with a green light, flash your
badge, and it’s yours.
Employees are discouraged from keeping a
single locker for days or weeks, because part of
the het nieuwe werken philosophy is to break
people away from their fixed locations and rigid
ways of thinking.
SITE PLAN
GROUND FLOOR
SECTION
5. A DASHBOARD TO RULE THEM ALL
Deloitte is collecting gigabytes of data on
how the Edge and its employees interact.
Central dashboards track everything from
energy use to when the coffee machines
need to be refilled. On days when fewer
employees are expected, an entire section
might even be shut down, cutting the costs
of heating, cooling, lighting, and cleaning.
Deloitte’s general philosophy with the Edge
was that anything with a return on -
investment of less than 10 years is worth a
try. The digital ceiling was one of the most
expensive innovations; Deloitte wouldn’t
disclose the cost, but Erik Ubels, chief
information officer for Deloitte in the
Netherlands, says it will take 8.3 years to
earn it back.
AN EVOLVING APP
The smartphone is your passport to the Edge.
Use it to find your colleagues, adjust the heating,
or manage your gym routine. You can even order
up a dinner recipe, and a bag of fresh ingredients
will await you when the workday is over. All
desks are equipped with built-in wireless
chargers so your phone can keep itself charged.
6. RELIABLE SOURCES
The heating and cooling of The Edge is
regulated in a sustainable way.
Therefore, two groundwater sources are
located 130 metres underground: one for
cold water and one for warm water. These
so-called aquifer thermal energy
storage pumps, depending on the inner
and outer climate, pump warm or cold
water in to or out of the building.
The installation pumps are driven by self-
generated solar power. As such, The Edge
cleverly and optimally uses all sustainable
possibilities.
During summer months, the building
pumps warm water more than 400 feet
deep in the aquifer beneath the building,
where it sits, insulated, until winter, when
it's sucked back out for heating.
HEALTHY LIFE
The Edge is not only good for the environment; it also
offers a healthy inner climate for users. For instance,
the heat recovery ventilation system contributes to that:
an intelligent ventilation system. Furthermore, the
building offers facilities to have a healthy meal at home
after a long working day. Via an app and an interactive
screen, users can select a dish in the daytime, which
they want in the evening
7. LIGHTING FOR EVERYONE
Everyone in The Edge with a
smartphone or tablet may itself
regulate the light and the "climate" of
his workplace with the special Philips
app.
The 6,000 low-energy LEDs are
connected to a daylight, temperature,
infrared & motion detector. They are
only active when necessary. The
LEDs save energy, because they offer
300 Lux, instead of the standard 500
Lux. As a result 3.9 Watts/m² is used
instead of the usual 8 Watts/m².
SUNNY PROSPECTS
The Edge is orientated and shaped in such a way
that the power of the sun is optimally utilised.
The glass facade ensures that daylight can be
benefited from as long as possible, without the heat
of the sun influencing the temperature inside.
The south side of the building is equipped with
super efficient solar panels, keeping the heat out
and the radiation absorbed when it’s at its strongest.
The southern wall is a checkerboard of solar panels
and windows. Thick load-bearing concrete helps
regulate heat, and deeply recessed windows reduce the
need for shades, despite direct exposure to the sun.
The roof is also covered with panels.
The Edge uses 70 percent less electricity than the
typical office building, but it wasn’t until OVG installed
panels on the rooftops of some neighbouring university
buildings that the Edge was able to boast that it
produces more energy than it consumes.
SOLAR PANELS
ON ROOF
SOLAR PANELS
ON FACADE
LIGHTING
-THE EDGE
8. ELECTRIC CAR AND BIKE PARKING
When you arrive at the Edge, garage entry
is automated.
A camera snaps a photo of your license
plate, matches it with your employment
record, and raises the gate.
Even the garage uses sensor-equipped
LED lights, which brighten as you
approach and dim as you leave.
It’s the Netherlands, so a separate garage
for bicycles and free chargers for electric
vehicles aren’t surprising.
BICYCLE
PARKING
CAR PARKING
LONG BLUE TUBES
The Edge is wired with a vast network of two different kinds of tubes: one
that holds data (ethernet cables) and another that holds water. Behind
each ceiling tile is a massive coil of thin blue piping that delivers water to
and from the building’s subterranean water storage for radiant heating
and cooling.
TRICKLE-DOWN TOILET
WATER
A massive concrete tub in the back
of the parking garage gathers the
rainwater used to flush the
building’s toilets and water the
gardens. It’s a loud room on a rainy
day. The water rushes down from
collection systems on the roof and
outdoor balcony.
NOT JUST A TOWEL
DISPENSER
The Edge watches you in the
bathroom, too (but not in a creepy
way). A normal-looking towel
dispenser provides a spool of cloth
for hand-drying. Unlike a typical
hand dryer, though, this one is
connected to the Internet. It lets
the cleaning staff know when a
busy bathroom is probably ready
for a cleanup.
9. ROBOCOP AND THE VACUUM
This little robot comes out at night to
patrol the grounds.
If an alarm goes off, the camera-equipped
automaton can identify the culprit or let
security know it was a false alarm.
It cruises around automatically or can be
commandeered by remote control.
For smarter cleaning, activity is tracked
by sensors built into light panels, so at
the end of the day, the people and robots
responsible for cleaning can focus on the
areas that have been used most heavily
that day.
HUMAN POWER
The on-site gym encourages employees to break for a
midday workout. Flash your phone at the check-in
station and the gym’s app automatically tracks your
progress. Some of the exercise stations here will actually
harness the energy from your workout, sending hard-
earned watts back to the grid—as if you didn’t already
feel like a hamster in a wheel.
ECOLOGICAL CORRIDOR
Birds, bats, bees, and bugs. These are the building’s
neighbours on the north-facing terrace. OVG worked
with Amsterdam officials to establish a continuous path
of vegetation that supports beneficial insects throughout
the city. Birdhouses and bat boxes are tucked discreetly
into the landscaping. These pockmarked towers support
various species of solitary bees, which buzz about the
flowers on the public terrace.
10. CONCLUSION The Edge is the first building to
make use of Philips' connected
lighting system for offices
The Edge's atrium is
designed as a meeting space
Ventilation is
controlled in
The Edge's
atrium
SELF-SUSTAINING ARCHITECTURE
The Edge is not just a pretty face – a modern facade: it is designed to be as energy neutral and self-sustaining as
possible.
Its Atrium is 15 floors high, making not only the work environment open and thus more inspiring, but also serving as
a part of the ventilation system, ensuring that the used air from the offices gets sucked off at the top.
The form and orientation of the building brings natural daylight to most of its workspaces. At the same time, the
shade will fall on the sunny parts of the structure for natural cooling.
As for electricity, the whole southern gable is equipped with solar panels. Additionally another 4000+ square meters of
panels have been placed on the roofs of neighbouring buildings of the University of Amsterdam and the Hogeschool of
Amsterdam.
But this is not all: an aquifer thermal energy storage, located about 130 meters underground, generates all energy
required for heating and cooling of the building. Rainwater is also collected and reused.
You could nearly think of The Edge as its own planet. If electricity fails across Amsterdam, people working in The
Edge can continue working in their own little haven.