The cepezed-designed Jinso-pavilion on the Arena Boulevard in Amsterdam has won the Dutch National Steel Prize 2010 in the category commercial and industrial buildings. The prize was presented during the National Steel Day on October 14. With the Jinso-pavilion, cepezed has won its sixth National Steel Prize from a total of no less then seventeen nominations over the years. Earlier, the office also won two Belgian and two European Steel Prizes.
The jury chaired by architect Hans van Heeswijk especially valued the construction of the pavilion, and the way it autonomically blends in with its large-scale and crowd-intensive surroundings: "Up till now, the idea to solve the roof stability three-dimensionally with a compound ring beam was only known of stadiums, for example the Feijenoord stadium in Rotterdam. Such an employment on this small scale is cunning and sophisticated: really innovative. The execution is handsome, with cold-bent glass and slender steel profiles; the constructive versatility of steel has ingeniously been used. The details have been designed with great care. In the 'aggressive' surroundings of the soccer stadium, cinema multiplex, music hall and bill boards, this structure easily stands its ground. A persuasive winner in this category because of the smart and integral design that unites modelling, construction and execution into a powerful upshot. Creations like these make a complete area more attractive and more refined for the general public."
The 2008-built Jinso-pavilion is an extension to an Asian catering pavilion also designed by cepezed in the 1990s. Due to the scale enlargement of the entire area during the last decade, the Municipality of Amsterdam requested the owner and operator to invest in high-quality expansion.
The original building consists of an elongated, two-storey box measuring twenty by eight metres. In the initial designs, the extension involved a skin of ETFE cushions that constituted a roofed-over winter garden, stretching over the pavilion as a kind of rotation figure. As a result of various regulations and a refinement of the programme by the client, the concept eventually evolved into a transparent glass oval, more than 12 metres high and measuring 43 by 30 metres in length and width, accommodating wholly climatized bar and restaurant functions. On the ground floor, the main volume has a two-metre constriction, while the first floor has a gallery more than four metres wide.
The façade and the roof are particularly striking. The façade consists of cold-bent insulation glass, which was bent and placed by means of suckers on the site itself. On the ground floor, the façade can be opened over more than three quarters of its length by means of a facetted folding wall in which every separate part has a different radius. The façade accommodates three stability crosses, of which two are situated at the heads of the oval. These locations are also used for the organization of the stairs.
The roof is more than 2.5 metres high and comprises eight large pneumatic cushions mounted on a refined detailed steel construction of facetted delta beams. Each of the cushions consists of four layers of EFTE with three air chambers in each cushion. The EFTE bears a pattern through which the sun and light resistance can be regulated by a change in pressure in the innermost chamber. The air supply for the cushions is integrated in the construction. A cooling patio has been integrated in the roof for the building-related installations that must have contact with the outside world.
The paving of the boulevard continues on into the pavilion. Embedded in large plant pots that were cast in the floor at the time of construction, the greenery appears natural and self-evident.