Department store Vroom & Dreesmann
Amsterdam
2016–2019
Department store Vroom & Dreesmann
Amsterdam
2016–2019
Transformation of the former department store Vroom & Dreesmann into offices, retail and restaurant
Address: Rokin/Kalverstraat, Amsterdam
Gross floor area: 11.200 m²
Client: IEF Capital
Architecture: Office Winhov
Team: Uri Gilad, Carlo van Steen, Inez Tan, Rutger van der Meer, Steven Reisinger, Anna Fawdry
Contractor: Van Wijnen Heerhugowaard
Project management: ABC Nova
Building site photos: Wijnanda Duits
Photographer: Stefan Müller
Department store Vroom & Dreesmann
Amsterdam
2016–2019

The historic department store of Vroom & Dreesmann forms a beacon for the center of Amsterdam. The complex consists of a combination of different buildings which have been rebuilt several times over the last hundred years. The main part of the complex is the former department store that was designed in 1912 by the architect Francois Caron and radically renovated in the 1930s by the Amsterdam School architect Jan Kuijt. The second part of the complex consists of the eighteenth-century warehouses on the Rokin and the nineteenth-century building of Jacot and & Oldewelt on the Kalverstraat, where caterer La Place is located. The design for the V&D complex fits in the tradition of critical reconstruction. The individual buildings have lost their own character over the years. All interventions by Office Winhov serve to reinforce the characteristic of the original buildings and to make the different layers of time visible. Historically valuable elements such as the steel curtain wall have been reconstructed and the historic St. Jorissteeg has been reduced as a connection between Rokin and Kalverstraat, thereby strengthening the public domain.

Department store Vroom & Dreesmann
Amsterdam
2016–2019
View from the Kalverstraat
View from the Rokin
V&D department store after the transformation by Kuijt, approx 1930
Kalverstraat, 1911–2019 Kalverstraat, 1911–2019 Kalverstraat, 1911–2019 Kalverstraat, 1911–2019 Kalverstraat, 1911–2019 Kalverstraat, 1911–2019 Kalverstraat, 1911–2019 Kalverstraat, 1911–2019 Kalverstraat, 1911–2019
Kalverstraat, 1911–2019
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Detachment between Jacot and Caron buildings
Transformation of the historical St. Jorissteeg
Situation before the transformation
Impression by the architect Caron around 1910
Connection between Caron and Kuijt buildings
Overview of the complex from the Rokin
Construction of the ground floor and basement
The new steel windows with original details
The reconstructed plinth and canopy
Situation before the transformation
View from the third floor
The main staircase
Reintroduction of the original void and glass roof