Highlights of Amare (2): Pillars of strength

More Highlights:

Amare’s unique outer appearance will likely have caught your eye. Compared to the surrounding buildings, the pillars in particular stand out. Do they symbolise trees, or hands, or tuning forks? The pillars also raise an engineering question: why have the physical supports been placed around the edge of the building? 

The decision to place Amare’s physical supports around the edge of the building is all a matter of acoustics. It allowed us to keep the number of vertical connecting elements inside the building to a minimum, which helps prevent noise transfer between the different auditoriums. The supporting pillars are in turn supported by the structure of the parking garage beneath Amare. 

Nice to know: Unlike its fellow pillars, one of the pillars is not a ‘supporter’ but a ‘floater’. It’s the only pillar that cannot extend underground because it is positioned directly above a tunnel connecting the parking garages below Amare.

Fun fact: In various places, the pillars provide shelter for The Hague’s natural inhabitants. Can you spot all the hidden birdhouses?