World of Food

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Add To Collection

World of Food

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Firm

Harvey Otten

Type

Hospitality + Sport › Restaurant

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2015

SIZE

25,000 sqft - 100,000 sqft

BUDGET

$1M - 5M

The Amsterdam South-East borough is known as one of the most multicultural communities in the world. Almost 180 nationalities live together in this suburban area that previously consisted of high-rise apartments. For the last decades these tower-blocks have been demolished and replaced by row houses. With World of Food a new era has started within the urban renewal of Amsterdam South East. The building houses an exotic food market in an old, spectacularly transformed parking garage. Armenian, Egyptian and Liberian delicacies are served alongside the best dishes of Thai, Caribbean and Indonesian cuisine. Even a McDrive, a student pub and an Italian espresso-corner are present.

Architects Ted Schulten and Harvey Otten took the initiative to add a concrete dimension to this long-cherished wish of the local authorities. In collaboration with developers Lingotto an abandoned parking garage was transformed. Finally the impressive quality of the concrete construction is now visible. The garage consists of heavy concrete beams in combination with a large open floor space. By cutting holes in the thin floor between the beams more height was created with plenty of incoming natural light. Thanks to the parking floors all the slopes are connected with each other thus creating many terraces including a large one on the former parking deck. The old crash barriers serve as a balustrade. Glass and steel from identical but demolished garages has been used for the refurbishment of this garage.

Developed/Built within a tight budget and with minimal resources this new venue exposes the pride of one the most interesting quarters of Amsterdam.