Construction of the Brink Tower in Amsterdam will start mid-October. This green, sustainable, and vibrant vertical neighbourhood with a great diversity of homes will become an eye-catcher in the Overhoeks district skyline of Amsterdam North. The 90-meter-high tower will offer a mixed programme and offers space to live, work, do business and relax in a healthy environment. The project contributes to the development of Overhoeks in a neighbourhood of the future: locally rooted, lively, and inclusive. BrinkToren is being developed by Xior Student Housing and DubbeLL – neighbourhood developers who won the competition for this tower together with Mecanoo architecten. Merosch, Dakdokters, Pim Evers, WeDriveSolar, Van Rossum and Nelissen Ingenieurs are also part of the integral team.
Connecting link
A ‘Brink’ is an old Dutch word for a green open space where people meet. Bringing people together to live together in a healthy, plant-filled, and sustainable project is also at the heart of the Brink Tower. The location is in the north of Amsterdam, an area that is separated from the rest of the city by the waters of the IJ. The Brink Tower lies at the edge of the neighbourhood of Overhoeks, which has seen many new residential developments. Just across a canal lies the low-rise Van der Pek neighbourhood. The Brink Tower forms a connecting link between both neighbourhoods, both visually and socially.
A cascade of green terraces
The 28-storey tower accommodates a mixed program with a commercial plinth, social housing and much desired medium-priced rental housing including 406 apartments of which 266 rental homes in the middle segment, 120 at affordable rent, a residential care facility, built-in community facilities, a community centre and commercial facilities such as a bowling and cafe. The architecture is stunning and exceptionally sustainable. The lively plinth with catering and local entrepreneurs will become the meeting point of the neighbourhood. The tower is stepped with elegant rounded corners and reaches up to 90 meters high. The side facing Van der Pek neighbourhood has a slender shape with a cascade of green, collective roof terraces and gardens where residents can meet. On the other side, the tower is wider, just like the robust adjacent towers of Overhoeks. The Brink Tower’s cladding is characterised by warm red brick, referencing the Amsterdam School architecture of the 1920s that characterises Van der Pek. The beautiful brickwork is integrated with concrete bands and detailing in the facades, which frame full-height windows all the way to the top on all sides. The result is a green highrise icon for Overhoeks neighbourhood.
Energy positive
Just as remarkable as its transformative social role and visual presence is its sustainable ambition. The Brink Tower is designed to become an energy positive residential tower and generates more energy than it consumes, thanks to photovoltaics on terraces and facades, wind and more solar energy harvesting on the top roof, and various energy-saving measures including an aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) system. It also takes biodiversity to new levels, not just with its choice of vegetation, but with nests and nooks for birds and insects. The Brink Tower shows that even in the city, humanity and nature can co-exist in harmony.