'Ordinary' water bus stop becomes vibrant and lively plaza with offices, wellness, fitness and restaurants

The Noordkade in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht has undergone a true metamorphosis: from an uninspiring water bus stop, where people never wanted to stay long, to a lively square with a beautiful panoramic view. RoosRos architects designed two functional buildings commissioned by Stemar Projectontwikkeling and Getgripp. On the one hand there is the maritime business house with offices and meeting facilities and on the other a building dedicated to wellness, sports and health. Furthermore, there is also plenty of space for hospitality. Den Dunnen Bouwonderneming from Hardinxveld-Giessendam realized the striking buildings, characterized by glass, flowing lines, round shapes, rounded corners and horizontal lines. With a nod to the past, there appear to be two ships.

The North Quay must once again become an attractive link between river and village center. For many years, this location was a coming and going of ships, assembled, demolished or repaired. With that past and the wishes of the developers in mind, architect Chi-Hang Chim of RoosRos architects designed two buildings with the appearance of yachts, surrounded by a square with terraces and steps toward the river. It looks like there are two new ships at the former shipyard. The historic ship crane completes the picture. 

Two yachts in the yard

The first four-story building includes the maritime entrepreneurial house with offices, meeting rooms and conference halls. The second building with its three floors is dedicated to sports and health, including a fitness, wellness and physical therapist. On the first floor - of respectively over 1,000 m² and just under 1,000 m² - there is room for catering with a terrace. Each floor has less surface area than the floor below and also received railings in glass, giving the impression of standing on the deck of a ship. The plans had been well thought out in advance by the developers and architects, and all permits had also been applied for. Commissioned by Stemar and Getgripp, construction company Den Dunnen in construction team formula took care of the further implementation with the elaboration of the working drawings and the final construction work.

Concrete skeleton surrounded by a curtain wall

"The slender buildings are based on a shell concrete structure and were assembled layer by layer using SKYDECK floor formwork. The systematic assembly sequence and lightweight system components speed up operations. In addition, the drop-head system allows rapid stripping, which significantly reduces the amount of material on site. You also have to brace less, which offers more mobility under the floor formwork," explains case manager John den Dunnen. "Around the concrete skeleton we drew a curtain wall with lots of glass, sandwich panels and white cover strips on the outside. Flowing lines, round shapes, rounded corners and horizontal lines are the main features of the architecture. The large expanses of glass provide plenty of natural light in all rooms and the connection between inside and outside."

Challenging construction project

The first offices of the Maritime Entrepreneurs' House will soon be occupied and the MyLife fitness club has opened. The various hospitality operators are busy finishing up and are expected to open their doors by the end of the year. "Everyone has their own idea about the layout and furnishings, which is why we delivered all the rooms as shells. Only for the fitness hall did we also take care of the finishing, except for the furniture," Den Dunnen concludes. "This is a great reference, even though it was a very challenging project, partly due to external factors such as corona, late material deliveries, price increases and a search for personnel. Thanks to our flat structure and short lines of communication, we were able to switch flexibly and thus realize everything on time."