Preview National Steel Construction Day 2019 with ...

Joost Vos, partner at Benthem Crouwel Architects

Next Tuesday, October 8, the National Steel Construction Day 2019 will take place. The national knowledge and networking event for steel-loving Netherlands will take place for the first time at the monumental Van Nelle Design Factory in Rotterdam. Together with keynote speaker Joost Vos, partner at Benthem Crouwel Architects, we look ahead to this day.

Last year, as part of '100 years of steel in IJmuiden', Tata Steel was still 'the place to be' for the National Steel Construction Day. The upcoming edi-tion will take place in the equally unique former Van Nelle Tobacco Factory. The day is all about networking, doing business, gathering knowledge and sharing knowledge. Parts of the event include the trade fair with over sixty company presentations, theme sessions, an architect seminar and the annual student program with the presentation of the 2019 Student Steel Award. As keynote speaker, Joost Vos will zoom in on Benthem Crouwel Architects' role in the design and realization of the North/South Line in Amsterdam in particular.

North/South Line Central Station.(Image: Jannes Linders)

The North/South Line is a special project in everything, Vos begins. "As an architectural firm, we did anything but act solo on this project with a lead time of no less than twenty years. It was truly a team effort, both internally and externally with consultants, the various disciplines and the client. At the time, we were selected as the firm after an architect selection. The starting point for the entire design was to create a comfortable feeling for the traveler. After all, people do not like to stay underground. We tried to keep the connections between platform and ground level as short as possible for all stations. In terms of materialization, we have very deliberately chosen materials that are durable and easy to maintain. Steel is an excellent example of this."

Other 'steel projects' by Benthem Crouwel Architects are also reviewed during Vos' speech. From the North/South line, for example, he made a 'side trip' to the new steel roof construction on the IJ side of Amsterdam Central Station, and steel projects in Rotterdam, Utrecht, The Hague and Delft were discussed, including the first energy-neutral station in the Netherlands, with a steel roof construction with PV panels.

Finally, Vos raises another "pain point. He worries about involvement and accountability in (large) projects. "It is important that parties are involved in a process from beginning to end in order to achieve the intended quality at all. Increasingly, we find that projects are split into phases, for which an architect, engineering firm, etc. is selected each time. The reason for this is to be able to buy cheaply, but ultimately this is not very conducive to quality. Quality stands or falls with the ambition of all parties involved and the ability to oversee the complete picture. Especially in long-term (infra) projects, the architect is often the only constant factor."

Visit the Benthem Crouwel Architects website: benthemcrouwel.com