New building facade for The Pulse of Amsterdam

‘’The building is designed to incorporate innovative circular elements and operate as sustainably as possible.’’

Sustainability is guiding both the urban infill and the design by architecture firms MVSA and VMX. With The Pulse, the worlds of “working” and “living” are connected via a lower building section, which will include a large urban forest at a height of 35 meters.

The two towers are 80 and 90 meters high and very different in appearance. The East Tower will have 24 floors that will accommodate 36,000m2 of office space. This East Tower will be fitted with special facade elements by Holland Composites. Special in terms of number: 1,000 pieces, in terms of size thanks to the dimensions of almost 4×4 meters, but especially because of the material used: Duplicor® bio-based fire-resistant composite.

With a B S1 D0 fire spread certificate from Efectis, this Duplicor® facade meets the highest fire requirements and is the perfect material for use in high-rise projects. For The Pulse, we are producing a total of 1,000 facade elements in 17 different designs, which create the increasingly outward cantilevering window sections. The bio-composite façade elements are strong and rigid enough to hold the wind suction forces and the windows' own weight. Solar panels are attached to the Duplicor façade elements.

The building was designed to incorporate innovative circular elements and operate as sustainably as possible. Reduction of energy consumption, biodiversity and water are three main themes within the development. With over 7,000 m² of solar panels and numerous innovations, this development will achieve BREEAM Outstanding certification and WELL Platinum certification.

The façade elements are self-contained elements supported by the foundation. The exterior and interior finishes are so sleek that no further finishing is required after installation.

The structural composite facade elements have dimensions of 12.50 x 3.50 m, with a thickness of 300 mm and were almost entirely manufactured in our factory in Lelystad. Only the glass setting and mounting of the solar panels was done at another location by other partners. The total facade area of the East Tower of The Pulse of Amsterdam covers 5650 m². This approach and the large dimensions saved a lot of assembly and labor costs and allowed a very efficient construction of the facade.

Follow the construction of The Pulse live via the special live-stream

The major advantage of composite is its light weight compared to traditional building materials such as steel and concrete. An average composite facade element for The Pulse of Amsterdam without glass and aluminum frame and solar panels weighs only 260 kilograms, incl. these elements it's 670 kg. Had this element been made entirely of steel, the weight per facade element would have been at least a factor of 2 heavier.

Thanks in part to the light weight of the façade elements, the entire building structure can be built much lighter, which in turn brings many environmental benefits.

Because the facade elements were delivered to the construction site ready to use, the office tower was built very quickly: 1 floor per week. The video shows fascinating images of the speed and simplicity of their assembly on the building.

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