Arup picked for record breaking timber tower

expat network

Arup picked for record breaking timber tower

Arup has been selected to develop HAUT, the highest wooden residential building in the world to date, counting 21 floors. We will work in partnership with Lingotto, Nicole Maarsen, TEAM V Architecture and Nederlandse Energie Maatschappij.
The 73 metre high residential tower located in the Amstelkwartier will include 55 apartments, public plinth Hortus bicycles and an underground car park. It will have a total gross floor area of approximately 14,500 m2 and is to receive the BREEAM Outstanding label, the highest possible sustainability score.

Building in wood is one of the most talked about innovations in sustainable construction internationally, due to the large storage capacity of CO2. Using wood provides an answer to the Municipality of Amsterdam’s quest for CO2 neutrality.

HAUT’s wood can store over three million kilograms of CO2. In addition 1.250m2 of PV (solar) panels will help the building produce renewable energy, while waste water is purified through a constructed wetland on the roof. The parking garage in the building has space for electric (shareable) cars.

The municipality of Amsterdam selected this team for their vision of the city of the future in which nature and architecture are balanced. HAUT also stands for haute couture: designed customized architecture. The design offers the first buyers unlimited freedom of choice in dwelling size, number of floors and the location of rooms, outdoor spaces and voids. Within a strong and simple façade design, with white-gray floor tapes and high windows, the balconies seem to have randomly been slid in and out. The wooden ceilings of balconies and large overhangs on the sharp corner at the Spaklerweg make HAUT’s architecture expressive and iconic.

For this project we are providing multi-disciplinary engineering services, including building services engineering, fire, acoustics and building physics consulting.

Amstelkwartier, the new district on the Amstel encompassses about 4,000 homes, shops and businesses. At this point approximately 1,000 homes have been completed and the first school has been opened. The construction of the new city park Somer Lust aan de Amstel has been finished as well.

Source: www.arup.com

Moving Abroad Checklist

Initial Considerations

Will your partner be travelling with you?

If so, what will they be giving up in your present home and will they be able to continue with their career in your new home? You will need to check whether a separate visa is required for your partner to work or if your visa gives that right. If they are unable to work you will need to decide on the effect on your finances and what alternatives are available to give a fulfilling life (home business, training, voluntary work).

Are you taking family with you?

Moving with family raises many exciting opportunities, but also can create challenges. The HSBC Expat Explorer survey indicates that expat kids can take six months to settle in to their new country (see article). Getting young or even older children to prepare to move and leave their friends and family behind can be a challenge and should be thought through.

The options for education is another area that needs to be thought through.

Moving your child to a new country with a different education system can be a great opportunity to broaden their experience, but if they are close to key exams the timing can make this inadvisable. If you do take your family with you, it is important to decide between joining the local school system or choosing an international school.

Where will you be living?

Whether you will be living in a house or apartment, furnished or unfurnished, these decisions will affect what you need to take with you. The time you are planning to live overseas will also affect whether you should leave your property at home empty, rent it out or sell it. See the article Sell, Store or Ship.