ING Real Estate’s innovative ‘Kraanspoor’ office development gets top honours again

During MIPIM in March 2008 Kraanspoor (‘Crane Track’) was crowned “ MIPIM Green Building of the Year” and received the “MIPIM Special Jury Award”.

The ULI Jury chaired by Ian Hawsworth selected Kraanspoor out of eleven finalists because of “the extraordinary character of this office development bringing life again to a former brownfield on the riverbanks of the IJ River.”

Located on the river IJ in Amsterdam, Kraanspoor began life in 1952 as a concrete crane platform along a harbour pier. It was saved from demolition in 1997 by designer Trude Hooykaas and OTH, office for architecture and interior architecture, who identified the structure’s potential for re-development and designed a three-storey, 12,500 m² glass office building that appears to float over the old concrete base.

The building’s indoor climate is regulated by a double-skin façade with movable louvers and solar-controlled glazing, whilst openings in the floor and a low-energy mechanical extraction system provide ventilation. In summer, Kraanspoor is cooled by water from the river below whilst, in colder months, the relatively warm water from the IJ is used to preheat the central heating system.

Because of its location on the water, the existing concrete platform had attracted a wide variety of water birds throughout its life. In order to maintain this balance with nature, boxes were created beneath the new building to provide sustainable housing for the wild birds.

Flexible design is integral to ING Real Estate Development’s strategy for sustainability and so Kraanspoor, now an office building, is designed flexibly in order that it could accommodate other functions, even housing, in the future.