Amsterdam’s Zuidas financial district is distinguished by the work of an impressive roster of architects, such as Toyo Ito, Rafael Viñoly, and Pei Cobb Freed, all of whose designs fit into a traditionally corporate atmosphere. But a new office building, completed in 2015, has a different agenda: The Edge, by developer OVG and PLP Architects, applies both sustainability and state-of-the-art digital technology to the creation of an innovative and, above all, congenial workplace. This multi-tenant, 15-story concrete structure is energy-neutral and was awarded a BREEAM “Outstanding” new-construction certification with a score of 98.4 percent, the highest since the UK-based Building Research Establishment began its Environmental Assessment Method program in 1990. It was also dubbed “possibly the smartest building on the planet” by Bloomberg BusinessWeek. But sustainability in itself is not interesting, says architect Ron Bakker of the London-based firm PLP. “What people respond to here is the connectedness between the building and the occupants who work here. The building is now part of their team.”
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