Reinterpreting Glazed Ceramics in Amsterdam

There must be something about PC Hooftstraat that makes it amenable to innovative explorations in architectural materials. MVRDV designed a replica facade made of traditional terracotta bricks that dissolve into solid glass bricks at street level back in 2016. A few years later, UNStudio renovated another facade on the shopping street with glass boxes that appear to flow like fabric. In those instances, the tops of the buildings retained their traditional features — cornices, dormers, hoisting beams — but the architects, given almost free rein in cladding the storefront and two upper floors, created contemporary expressions in masonry and glass. The same tactic is on display with Studio RAP's Ceramic House.

Studio RAP retained the silhouette and tripartite structure of the existing facade to maintain the basic character of the building and the way it fits in with its neighbors on PC Hooftstraat. Passersby might not even notice the building with just a quick glance, but a closer look reveals the atypical, undulating character of the masonry. The retail storefront and entrance to the upper floors are framed in white glazed 3D-printed tiles. The masonry facade on the upper floors is made from 3D-printed bricks glazed in three distinct shades of red. While the storefront tiles fade from smooth to complex as they rise vertically, the rippling texture of the bricks fades from complex on the first floor to flat on the second, as evidenced by the two photos below.

The following captions for drawings and photographs showing the fabrication and assembly of the facade reveal additional information about Studio RAP's Ceramic House.