The Pulse of Amsterdam

The Pulse of Amsterdam is a 56,000 m² mixed-use development at the heart of Amsterdam’s Zuidas, located at the entrance to the Kenniskwartier, between Amsterdam Zuid station, the VU Medical Center, the A10 and Buitenveldert. The project brings together offices, homes, leisure facilities and an urban forest in a single, integrated development. The City of Amsterdam set high ambitions for the new development, ranging from the quality and diversity of its homes to circularity and sustainability, urban nature, mobility and public facilities. The Pulse meets these ambitions by combining a high-quality, publicly oriented urban environment with ambitious environmental performance and a strong connection to nature.

Rather than reinforcing the traditional separation between working and living that characterises the Zuidas, the project creates a lively urban environment where people, nature and different programmes coexist throughout the day. The result is a new kind of city block that combines metropolitan intensity with a strong sense of public life and ecological value.

The office tower is designed to accommodate a wide range of users, from large international organisations to more flexible working environments. Its double-decker lift system enables efficient vertical circulation while keeping the building core compact, while the generous floorplates provide exceptional flexibility for different users and configurations. With some floors measuring around 3,000 m², the tower offers some of the largest open-plan office floors in the Netherlands, creating opportunities for highly efficient layouts as well as diverse forms of collaboration and interaction.

At ground level, the conventional corporate lobby is replaced by an open and inviting public interior, connecting the office tower directly to cafés, restaurants, the cinema and other facilities in the plinth.

Sustainability is integral to the architectural expression of the tower. Its sleek façade is made from a composite material incorporating recycled plastic bottles, combined with sun-protective glazing and integrated photovoltaic panels. Approximately 7,000 m² of PV panels are integrated into the façade and positioned behind angled windows, allowing them to generate renewable energy while remaining largely invisible from ground level. The angled elements also provide passive solar shading and help prevent the wind-tunnel effect often associated with tall buildings, improving the comfort of the public realm at street level. In this way, the façade integrates material innovation, energy generation and environmental performance into a single architectural system.

The two towers are connected by the transparent plinth and its central Blurring Zone: a generous public interior where the boundaries between office, residential and leisure functions dissolve. Rather than functioning as a conventional corporate lobby, the space welcomes workers, residents and visitors alike. Filled with daylight and greenery, it provides access to cafés, restaurants, the cinema and other public amenities while creating a shared meeting place at the heart of the development.

This shared ground gives The Pulse a distinctly public character and allows the building to remain active throughout the day, evening and weekend. Working, living, meeting and recreation are no longer isolated functions but become part of a continuous urban experience. The Blurring Zone therefore acts as the social heart of The Pulse, connecting the different users and programmes while extending the life of the Zuidas beyond its traditional business hours.

Nature is not an addition to the architecture but an integral part of the project’s identity and performance. The landscape contributes to biodiversity, water retention, heat reduction and air-quality improvement, while offering users an unusual green environment within the high-rise city. Across the project, the relationship between people and nature gradually shifts: the lower levels are highly public and active, while the elevated landscape becomes increasingly dedicated to plants and wildlife.

Together with the public green spaces, terraces, biosolar roofs and water elements, the landscape creates a continuous ecological structure woven through the architecture. The result is more than a green roof or elevated garden: it is a new layer of urban nature that contributes to Amsterdam’s wider green network and provides space for both people and wildlife.

The Pulse demonstrates how a large-scale mixed-use development can become more than a collection of individual functions. As the winning competition concept for a new 56,000 m² gateway to the Kenniskwartier, it translates ambitious municipal requirements into an integrated urban environment where architecture, landscape and public life reinforce one another.

By bringing together an internationally oriented office tower, locally rooted housing, an open public plinth and a substantial urban forest, the project creates a new type of urban environment for the Zuidas: one that is productive yet social, metropolitan yet distinctly Amsterdam, and highly urban while making space for nature.

The result is a vibrant, future-oriented gateway to the Kenniskwartier and a new model for integrating architecture, landscape and public life in the dense city. The Pulse shows how architecture can contribute not only to the identity of a place, but also to its ecological resilience, social vitality and long-term quality of life.