Amsterdam’s expensive, glossy shopping mile has a new attraction: the spectacular Chanel flagship store by MVRDV. Its façade takes up the pattern of traditional Dutch brick houses – but is made of glass blocks.
Pieter Cornelisz Hooftstraat, Amsterdam’s luxury shopping street, is lined with brands such as Burberry, Hermes and expensive jewelry stores. However, the collection of typical Dutch brick façades has recently been interrupted by a building frontage that seems to float, as the lower part of the façade consists of transparent glass bricks that merge into reddish terracotta bricks in a subtle gradient. Chanel’s new flagship store is located there, in the so-called Crystal House.
MVRDV has reinterpreted a typical Dutch brick façade: With its architraves, roof and large windows, the building looks like an Amsterdam house from the 19th century, were it not for the glass bricks.
And it is in fact a reconstruction: the traditional triangular gables, the protruding beam to pull up goods, the brick façade and the large windows – the architects have adopted all the stylistic elements typical of this period. It was important to them to respond to the location and not to plan an interchangeable new building that could stand in any shopping street. They therefore decided to combine traditional architecture with new elements.
Harder than concrete
The glass blocks were the result of a collaboration between the Venetian glass manufacturer Poesia, TU Delft and MVRDV. The main question was whether and how the glass could be made load-bearing. The research group at TU Delft developed a special production method for this: the liquid glass is poured into a mold and cooled down in a controlled manner in an oven so that no cracks appear in the building blocks. This makes the Architrave so resistant that it could support two off-road vehicles – and therefore harder than concrete.
The composite material was a particular challenge for the team, as cement was out of the question due to its opacity. The solution was a transparent adhesive that resists temperature fluctuations. The construction method proved to be particularly sustainable: Broken glass bricks or terracotta elements can be melted down and reshaped.
New possible applications
TU Delft has since continued its research and is looking for new applications for glass as a building material. One example of this is load-bearing columns or pillars that can be formed from glass to replace missing elements in restorations. However, the research group is working with less transparency – for the safety of visitors.
You can find out more about the future of glass as a material at the international trade fair for glass glasstec in Düsseldorf: TU Delft and other universities are organizing the special show “Glass Technology Live” there this year. In Hall 11, the universities will be presenting their research results on the topics of facades, energy, construction and new technologies. Of course, the manufacturers will also be on site to introduce their products.
glasstec 2018 will take place from October 23 to 26, 2018 at the Düsseldorf exhibition grounds.
