Goede Doelen Loterij, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Office with an eye-catching, sustainable, canopy-like ceilings

The offices of the “Goeden Doelen Loterij” in the trendy Zuidas business district of Amsterdam are located in the most sustainably transformed office building in the Netherlands. The project gained iconic fame. The main reason is the striking leaf canopy that graces the atrium and forecourt at the entrance to the building. In addition to the eye-catching aesthetics, the canopy’s architecture reveals high-quality technical innovations, developed by Hunter Douglas.

BREEAM Outstanding

The office building was designed by architectural firm Benthem Crouwel of Amsterdam. Located on the Amsterdam’s Beethovenstraat, the building has been awarded the highest possible sustainability label:

BREEAM Outstanding. The certificate is related not just to the sustainability aspects of the design, but also to sustainable choices made during the construction process. The way in which the atrium and entrance ceiling were designed and installed is an important part of this Canopy-like ceiling.

The architects’ idea was to create a leaf motif in the ceiling that filters light similar to that of a leafy environment.

Both inside and outside, the steel columns of the supporting structure have the irregular

shapes of trees and branches. A canopy-like ceiling was the obvious next step. Hunter Douglas designed and produced a flat ceiling, using a total of 3.500 m 2 of roof panels, and making sure the inside and outside panels had the same dimensions. The panels consist of tiles of 650 mm by 650 mm, fixed to an aluminium profile.

Special light

The design is based on four triangular leaves folded down in different angles. The sets of four leaves were fixed to the ceiling with 58 different types of mounts to form one big, complicated puzzle.

The corners of the panels move like leaves. No two profiles are the same, which produces a very special kind of lighting.