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Bi-folding-door-The-George-Amsterdam
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To optimise the view and the amount of light coming into the space, we wanted a bi-folding door with a slender frame.
“
Pieter Lievense, Head Project Architect, dok architecten
Glas-Faltwand-The-George-Amsterdam
Glas-Faltwand-The-George-Amsterdam

Sustainability

We want the buildings that we design to establish a meaningful and lasting bond with the people living inside them. We want our buildings to treat their users and the location’s ecological, social and historical structure with respect. We create buildings that stand the test of time because they are robust and can be easily adapted to changing requirements. Our use of sustainable materials and our ability to find sustainable solutions are always key focal points. We are skilled at bringing historical buildings to life.

dok architecten, Amsterdam

Liesbeth van der Pol, Partner at dok architecten

A made-to-measure “summer dress”

In the heart of Amsterdam’s Zuuidas business district, Dutch architects’ bureau Dok architecten have erected an extraordinary residential building. Fully glazed, “The George” runs along the De Boelegracht canal, its gentle curves opening up its generous terraces and balconies toward the south. In contrast, the north, east and west sides with their colourfully glazed brickwork are designed as compact, perforated facades. Due to both the shape of the building and the colour concept of its shell, project-specific custom solutions were an essential requirement.

With its sober, glass-and-steel office block aesthetic, Amsterdam’s Zuidas business district often feels almost monotone to look at. With their exclusive apartment complex, “The George”, Architect Liesbeth van der Pol and her team at Dok architecten made a conscious decision to break through this monotony. They designed a striking, stepped building that radiates a sense of lightness and joie de vivre, giving residents the chance to live closer to nature on the bank of the De Boelegracht canal. With its warm orange and yellow tones, the colour concept for the building's shell borrows from its immediate surroundings, taking the shades of the nearby Lex-van-Delden bridge and the new “Symphony” city centre and incorporating them into The George’s facade.

Glas-Faltwand-The-George-Amsterdam
Glas-Faltwand-The-George-Amsterdam

Dynamic building geometry

The view from the outside leaves no doubt that the designers wanted to make this residential building feel cheerful. Among other areas, this is reflected in its unusual geometry: inspired – according to the architects – by the motif of a flowing summer dress, the two slender sight lines at the side of the building bulge out at its base, lending the structure an inimitable sense of dynamism. Since the eleven-storey building tapers toward the top, each of its 47 apartments boast a unique ground plan. Another special feature is the height of the rooms: at 3.3 metres, the individual storeys are ten percent taller than the standard.

The roof boast just as much “verve” as the east and west facades, with a solar-collector-clad shell that generates power and collects rainwater – the latter of which is used to irrigate the “vertical gardens” on the south side of the building. The solar energy lights the building’s public areas, which include a large common terrace on the fourth floor. Alongside this, a ventilation system with heat recovery also helps keep the building’s primary energy consumption to a minimum.

South facade: As transparent as possible

On the canal side of the building, the architects wanted to install a green “cascade” where the residents could live their daily lives. They achieved this by completely glazing the south facade, and using large terraces and balconies to fully open up the living areas and allow them to merge with the outdoors. When it came to designing this seamless boundary between the indoors and the outside, the architects opted for the Highline bi-folding door system from Solarlux. Based on an accordion principle, the Highline can be folded up into a slender bundle of glass, which then “parks” inconspicuously at the side of the terrace. The custom building components are almost 2.7 metres tall and approx. 93 centimetres wide, and offer excellent thermal insulation. With a total of eight window panels, they can be opened up across a width of up to 7.5 metres.

When it came to choosing the right product, the planners wanted to make sure they gave their residents maximum transparency. As Pieter Lievense, Head Project Architect at dok architecten, explains, “To optimise the view and the amount of light coming into the space, we wanted a bi-folding door with a slender frame.” With sight lines of just 99 millimetres at the panel butt joint and excellent thermal insulation, Solarlux’s Highline bi-folding door system was the perfect solution.

Glas-Faltwand-The-George-Amsterdam

The south facade is fully glazed, while large terraces and balconies open up the living areas, allowing them to merge with the outdoors.

Glas-Faltwand-The-George-Amsterdam
Glas-Faltwand-The-George-Amsterdam

Custom manufacturing & colour requirements

If there were any doubt that these slender frame sight lines could be used on a building with such demanding geometry, the moving window and facade solutions specialist dispelled them with its work along the east and west facades. These sections of the building required trapezoidal, fixed Highline glazing in varying dimensions that matched the curve of the building’s edges and maintained its unusual shape.

The frame colours for all the Highline products, including the hinges, were tailored to match the brickwork’s colour concept and anodised in a light shade of bronze. “We wanted the metal components of the bi-foldings to maintain the same warm feel as the rest of the building,” says Pieter Lievense of the effect the architects’ bureau was aiming for.

When it came to the rest of the building's shell, Dok architecten opted for exposed brickwork made of glazed bricks in warm reds, browns and beiges. On the north, east and west sides, these were combined to create a lively facade relief that changes with the sunlight, depending on the time of day and the weather. Aside from the balconies with their all-round glazing, there are only a few window openings on these three sides. These covered balconies can be used all year round, making the apartments that don’t have a south-facing terrace or open balcony more attractive. They also reduce noise emissions and reduce thermal energy loss.

Glas-Faltwand-The-George-Amsterdam
Glas-Faltwand-The-George-Amsterdam

Balcony glazing for added value

A total of six of the apartments have been fitted with the Solarlux SL 25 slide-and-turn system, mounted on the non-insulated SL Modular facade module. Since the two system components are designed to work together, they combine to form a single aesthetic unit. The balcony glazing is opened by pushing some of the ten all-glass-look sliding panels to the left and the rest to the right, and swinging them either inward or outward. Here too, all the frame profiles have been anodised in the architects’ specified colour.

Every building project comes with its own technical challenges – from the original design to the completion of the tiniest details in the construction. This applies even more so for projects with especially demanding designs that represent a step away from conventional building standards. When the time came to bring their ambitious design to life Liesbeth van der Pol and her team knew they could rely on Solarlux – an expert partner for every step of the process. Both the challenging frame geometries for the fixed glazing along the curved edges of the building and the sophisticated, anodised design of the bi-folding doors, balcony and fixed glazing were implemented without a hitch.

A dreamlike oasis in the heart of the city – The Highline bi-folding door system can be parked in a bundle at the side of the terrace to save space.

Engineering at a glance
Maximale Öffnung
Really open up your space
Barrierefreiheit
Accessibility
Ein Highlight
Highlight
Wärmedemmung
Thermal insulation
Einbruchhemmung
Security
Schlagregendichtheit
Water tightness
Glas-Faltwand Combiline Profilschnitt
Glas-Faltwand Combiline Profilschnitt

Bi-folding doors

The possibilities offered by a bi-folding door are almost limitless. It offers what no other floor-to-ceiling window can: generous glass fronts that can be opened across almost 100% of their area while still offering maximum protection when closed. Unlike traditional sliding doors, all the individual elements of a bi-folding door can be gathered up in a slender bundle of panels at one side. This feature also makes the bi-folding door perfect for flexible organisation of interior spaces in all kinds of buildings, such as room extensions in office spaces, retail, gastronomy, and even schools. On top of this, the limitless combinations and top-of-the-range insulation values it offers also make it an efficient facade solution when it comes to renovating both open and recessed balconies.

Bi-folding door
Balkonverglasung SL25 Transparenz
Balkonverglasung SL25 Transparenz

Balcony glazing

You can use glass sliding or slide-and-turn systems to shelter yourself on your balcony – not just from harsh weather conditions such as wind, rain and cold, but also from noise. You can choose a fully transparent or a framed system, depending on your requirements. The versatile, non-insulated glazing will transform your balcony into an airy pergola or a sheltered room whenever you want. The wide range of system solutions can also be retrofitted onto existing balustrades. 

Balcony glazing
Order today: The bi-folding door brochure
Would you like even more in-depth information on our individual systems and the technical details of our bi-folding doors? Then order our comprehensive product brochure today – available in digital format via email or as a hard-copy book.