Albert Cuyp parking garage in the prizes

On 14 November, during the Concrete Day, the Concrete Prize in the category Civil Constructions was awarded to the Albert Cuyp parking garage project, Amsterdam. Parking garage Albert Cuyp is a project of client municipality of Amsterdam (Stadsdeel Zuid), contractor Max Bögl Nederland B.V, ZJA Zwarts & Jansma Architects (architectural design and ABT B.V (foundation: GEWI piles, underwater concrete and basement floor).

The garage is located in the Oude Pijp district of Amsterdam and is laid out under an existing waterway. The garage can accommodate 600 cars and 60 bicycles. Efficient use of the limited space in the Oude Pijp is paramount; the arrival of the Albert Cuyp parking garage reduces the parking pressure and offers more space for greenery, pedestrians and cyclists in the neighborhood.

According to the parties involved, innovative is, among other things, the integrated basement floor, in which steel fiber reinforced underwater concrete (SVOWB) works together with the construction floor poured over it in the final phase. This principle makes the basement floor slimmer with the additional advantages that less deep excavation was required and less concrete could be used. All this made it possible to spread the loads from the moat above in the final phase. This creates a balance between the upward water pressure under the basement floor and the downward loads from the basement construction and the water in the canal.

‘Great to make a parking garage underwater in inner-city areas’, the jury ruled. ‘There is multiple use of space and the whole is sharply executed.’

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