The authors of the project are de Architekten Cie. - faced with unforeseen difficulties in the design: a new music school, a branch of the Amsterdam Institute of Arts, was to be built next to the main city station. This is not the best location for the conservatory was the result of a decision on a large-scale reconstruction of the island of Osterdokseeiland and the adjacent territory (where this railway junction is located). During this restructuring, which began in the 1980s, the former industrial zone is transformed into a residential area interspersed with cultural institutions and office buildings (in particular, the concert hall of the 3XN bureau and the NEMO museum by Renzo Piano). Not far from the station complex, a new Central Library, designed by Jo Coenen, was already opened in 2006, and the Amsterdam Conservatory de Architekten Cie has grown right next to it.
To protect students and teachers from the noise of the big city and, most importantly, the hum of trains passing nearby was an important task for architects. To solve this problem, they applied the “engawa principle,” a covered walk-around gallery in a traditional Japanese house. The main corridors of the upper floors of the conservatory run along its facade facing the city. Glazed passages, which also serve as light wells, lead to classrooms located in the depths of the building, protected from external influences.
In general, the spaces of the new building are vertically organized along functional lines. All public spaces - five concert halls, a lobby, a dining room - are located on the lower floors, the middle part is occupied by study rooms, the upper tier, called by the architects "architrave", contains the administrative premises and the library. All these divisions are clearly reflected on the curtain wall of the facade: varying thickness and color of profiles, size of glass panels.
Each of the concert halls of the conservatory differs in size and acoustic properties, these differences are also emphasized in each case by a special formal solution of the room.
The new ensemble of the library and music school near the Amsterdam station should be completed by an office building in the shape of the letter L - it is planned to be built by 2011.
