Palace of Justice

Bolidt News

Palace of Justice

The new Palace of Justice in Amsterdam was officially opened by King Willem-Alexander recently. On a man-made peninsula in the IJ Lake, the new building of the Court of Justice, which has left its home of 175 years on the Prinsengracht, is connected to the building housing the Public Prosecutor’s Office by a glazed elevated walkway. The Dutch Government Buildings Agency commissioned the design for the two buildings from Claus and Kaan Architects. Bolidt has been closely involved in the realisation of this project.

The new 34,000 m² complex accommodates about 700 desk spaces, 19 court rooms, several storage rooms for court files and 26 cells to temporarily hold suspects on the day of their appeal. These and other functions used to be spread over three buildings on the Prinsengracht and various office buildings in the city centre.

The building stands as a prominent, impressive and individual landmark overlooking the IJ. The façades are made up of horizontal layers of five high-quality materials, each with its own texture but all in a subtle colour palette of whites and pale greys: natural stone, ceramic elements, whitened concrete, glazed brick and powder-coated steel plate.

Carefully positioned windows bring natural light into the interior spaces and offer views of the IJ and the city. The complex contains three outdoor areas, of which the largest one, accessible from the staff restaurant, is a courtyard surrounded by so-called green façades, where the vertical external walls are overgrown with plants.

These unobtrusive materials provide the Palace of Justice with an inviting, durable and yet professional appearance. This concept, including the soft, natural colour palette, has also been extended to the interior. Jan Kerkhof, architect with Claus and Kaan: “We had a particular shade of white in mind for the flooring, which continued in exactly the same colour on the surrounding walls and was therefore not allowed to be even a tinge off.

That specific colour was whiter than the standard white. Bolidt has produced this bespoke colour for us and, in doing so, fully met our wishes.”

Based on positive experiences with the Bolidtop^® 525 system in the past, Claus and Kaan decided to use the Bolidtop^® 525 for this project as well. This flow applied floor finish is scratch proof, wear resistant, comfortable to walk on and reduces impact noise.