Accoya selected for the Amsterdam naval base

At the heart of Amsterdam, the naval base building was renovated by the architects of the practice SLA, tasked with devising a design capable of accommodating new uses. The work had to be finished in time to host the Dutch presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2016. The project includes a new interior layout, new facilities and, above all, spectacular new facades: large triple-glazed windows of 3.5 x 3.5 metres are set into deep reveals clad in Accoya. The modified timber was chosen for the main windows because of its structural integrity and its durable properties. In a remarkable detail, the apparently random layout of the wood is in fact a graphic interpretation of the national flags of all the European communities. The project photographs are by Milad Pallesh.