Detachable Design: This Sustainable Amsterdam Building Is Meant To Be Deconstructed

You don’t usually construct a building with the intent to take it apart. But that’s exactly the case with Matrix One, an office and laboratory building in Amsterdam that’s purpose-built to be dismantled for reusable parts.

The six-story, 140,000-square-foot demountable building is a showcase for innovative sustainable building practices. It utilizes renewable energy sources that make it almost energy neutral, incorporates prefabricated construction materials and techniques and is BREAAM-Excellent certified, the second highest rating within the environmental sustainability accreditation.

Architecture firm MVRDV’s intricately-planned construction method conserves resources by considering the building’s life cycle from the beginning. As a result, over 90% of the building’s 120,000 individual components can be reused in the future.

“The building is state-of-the-art now, but it also acknowledges that the state-of-the-art is constantly changing. So, we made both the interior spaces and the technical installations that serve them as flexible as possible,” MVRDV partner Frans de Witte said in a statement. “In the decades to come, when the building is no longer cutting-edge, it will become a source to harvest materials from for other buildings. In the future, we hope this is how all buildings will work.”

The building materials are organized as layers by the ease at which they can be removed from the building (think furniture as the easiest to take out and the supporting structure the hardest to deconstruct), and then components are attached to the structure’s central steel frame using simple bolt and screw connections. This design means that the building material layers can essentially be peeled away, intact, when parts of the building need to be updated, then reused.

The floors are made using prefabricated concrete slabs with thin steel bracing and no fixed connections, and the surface is made of 95% bio-based and renewable materials. The decorative aluminum facade modules are directly screwed to the wooden facade frame, and the felt wall covers are assembled as Cradle-to-Cradle certified (a building materials designation for sustainable and reusable products) modules hanging in metal sheets.

The rectangular shape and floorplate span of the building are intentionally small to reduce the thickness of the concrete floors, and thus mitigate carbon emissions generated from concrete manufacturing. The compact steel support structure allows for an open office layout, plus all interior walls can be moved or removed to accommodate different interior configurations.

“Offices can easily be modified to become labs and vice versa, and labs can be easily upgraded with new systems to accommodate changing standards,” de Witte said.

The building also utilizes renewable energy sources, with over 10,000 square feet of solar roof panels generating power, and smart lighting and heating fixtures that tenants can control through a phone app.

To help reduce the vast amounts of energy consumption that science labs require, a green roof — which features gravel beds for nesting birds and an insect hotel to stimulate the biodiversity of the larger Matrix Innovation Center campus — helps insulate and cool the upper floors of the building, and air leaving the workspaces is recovered at the top of the atrium where the incoming fresh air is preheated. The main amenity space is naturally ventilated — fresh air enters the building through ventilation openings in the floor and exits the building through the retractable roof above the central stairs.

A water reservoir under the building retains rainwater and reduces weight load on the roof by being located underground.

“With this combination of energy generation and reduced energy consumption, the building itself produces a significant proportion of the energy it consumes, and therefore meets the ambitious Amsterdam targets for energy performance,” said the firm in a statement.

The Matrix One building is part of the Amsterdam Science Park and is the largest of seven buildings that comprise the Matrix Innovation Center. The building’s tenants include laboratories and offices for tech companies, including Qualcomm and sustainability companies such as Photanol, Skytree and the startup FUL Foods.

Matrix One serves as the social hub and amenity center of the complex, with a large “social staircase” in the main entrance with amphitheater-style seating, tables for meetings or breaks and coffee stations.

A ground-floor restaurant, a bar at the top of the staircase and a 100-seat auditorium round out the amenities and form “Club Matrix,” which is accessible to all tenants of the surrounding Matrix complex.

Sustainability and health go hand in hand, so the building encourages employees to prioritize wellness. The central staircase placement prompts employees to walk instead of taking the elevators, which are situated further back in the building; the building offers ample bicycle parking and storage for commuters; biophilic elements like living green walls line the work and social spaces; and glass facade windows allow for natural light access while indoors and reduces the energy required for artificial lighting. All workplaces have automatic sunshades for tenant comfort and to reduce the need for air conditioning.