MARTIJN DIRKS AND MARTIJN HOUWEN
2 Amsterdam
SOON TO WELCOME ALL OF ZUIDAS A hotel with a sky bar, a brand-new office tower and a corporate garden where you can sip your double latté... Two years from now, the overwhelmingly impressive and ultra-modern 2 Amsterdam will be opening its doors to all of Zuidas! 2 Amsterdam comprises the buildings that formerly housed Stibbe and AkzoNobel, two mega-office towers that now find themselves in the midst of an incredible makeover. Hello Zuidas met with Martijn Dirks, a partner at project developer Provast, and Martijn Houwen, head of Real Estate Markets Benelux at Commerz Real, who is the property owner, to talk about the plans. RIPE AND LOGICAL TIME
have a brainstorm about the towers. Very soon we landed on the idea
The two towers have been in Commerz Real’s portfolio for more than
to turn one of them into a hotel and the other into a renovated office
20 years, and were leased all of that time to Stibbe and AkzoNobel.
building. We hired an architect to piece it all together, and before
Martijn Houwen explains, ‘When it became evident that they were
long we had this exciting project to look forward to.’
thinking about moving, we immediately realized that, the crisis notwithstanding, this was a great opportunity to renovate the towers
24/7 DYNAMIC
from top to bottom. In 2012-2013 the time felt right to get to work.’
In a few years’ time, the pair of static office giants will have completed
Martijn Dirks continues, ‘Right around that time we were invited to
their metamorphosis into two transparent buildings that open their
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