The Edge, Amsterdam

Ecological corridor SITE PLAN

The greenspace that separates the building from
the nearby motorway acts as an ecological corridor,
allowing animals and insects cross the site safely.
 GROUND FLOOR PLAN

SITTING AREA GROUND FLOOR

STAIRCASE

ENTRY PORCH ATRIUM

ABOUT THE BUILDING
• Location: Zuidas business district,
Amsterdam

• Area: 40,000m²

• Number of floors: 15

• Purpose: The project aimed to

consolidate Deloitte’s employees from
multiple buildings throughout the city
into a single environment
A difference in the workspace
Following things were kept in mind while designing the interiors of
the building:
• Employees were allowed to choose wherever they like to sit in an
“activity-related” work environment.

• The office of the future will take the form of meeting places and
cafeterias.

• The concept included intelligent floorplans to enhance employee

comfort and efficiency, flex workspaces and the use of
environmentally-friendly materials.
Smart features:
• Users can find out where they are within the building by training
their mobile device on a lighting unit using a mobile app. The app
can then direct a user to their desired destination
• When the employee comes, a camera snaps a photo of the
license plate, matches it with the employment record, and raises
the gate
• the cars are directed to a parking space. This process is of course
energy-optimised. The lights in the parking lot brighten as a car
approaches and dim as they leave.
• To be sensitive of privacy concerns, Deloitte surveyed employees
before it installed the license plate scanner.
• The app finds you a desk. At the Edge, no one has
an assigned desk. Workspaces are based on your
schedule: sitting desk, standing desk, work booth,
meeting room, balcony seat, or “concentration
room.”

• The building’s various espresso machines

remember how the user likes their coffee. Sensors
even alert staff when the machines need refilling.

• The connected lighting system and custom iPhone

application allow employees to adjust their climate
and lighting according to their liking.

• So, if the sun shines brightly, employees can tone

everything down to create a more comfortable way
of working, wherever they are in the building.

• Predictions of occupancy at lunchtime based on

real time historical data and traffic and weather
information to avoid food-waste.
• Unused rooms to be skipped for cleaning.
• Managers to be alerted to lights that need replacing.
• Notification of printers needing paper.
• The on-site gym encourages employees to break for a midday
workout. The gym’s app automatically tracks your progress. Some
of the exercise stations here will actually harness the energy
from your workout, sending hard-earned watts back to the grid.
• It even allows the user to order a dinner recipe, and have
ingredients awaiting them at the end of the day.
• Massive flat screens around every corner can be synced wirelessly
with any phone or laptop.
• All desks are equipped with built-in wireless chargers so your
phone can keep itself charged.
• A normal-looking towel dispenser provides a spool of cloth for
hand-drying which is connected to the Internet. It lets the cleaning
staff know when a busy bathroom is probably ready for a cleanup.
• This little robot (bottom left) comes out at night to patrol the
grounds. If an alarm goes off, the camera-equipped automaton can
identify the culprit or let security know it was a false alarm. It
cruises around automatically like a Roomba or can be
commandeered by remote control.
How it was done- Technicalities
• OVG and Deloitte worked closely with Philips Lighting,
who delivered a connected lighting system that uses
technology to enhance the flexibility of the open-plan
office.
• It provides building managers with real-time data on
operations and activities.
• The system uses nearly 6500 connected LED luminaires
to create a “digital ceiling” on the building’s 15 storeys.
• The system uses 750 power-over-ethernet (PoE) switches
to connect lighting fixtures to the building’s IT network.
• Long blue tubes: The Edge is wired with a vast network
of two different kinds of tubes: one that holds data
(ethernet cables) and another that holds water. Behind
each ceiling tile is a massive coil of thin blue piping that
delivers water to and from the building’s subterranean
water storage for radiant heating and cooling.
Light over Ethernet
In The Edge a new LED-lighting system has been co-developed with Philips.
The Light over Ethernet (LoE) LED system is powered by Ethernet and 100% IP based. This makes the system
(i.e. each luminaire individually) computer controllable, so that changes can be implemented quickly and easily
without opening suspended ceilings. The luminaires are furthermore equipped with Philips’ ‘coded-light’ system
allowing for a highly precise localisation via smartphone down to 20cm accuracy, much more precise than known
WiFi or beacon systems.
Around 6,000 of these luminaires were placed in The Edge with every second luminaire being equipped with an
additional multi-sensor to detect movement, light, infrared and temperature.
Quantitative analysis:
• The digital ceiling was one of the most
expensive innovations; Deloitte wouldn’t
disclose the cost, but Erik Ubels, chief
information officer for Deloitte in the
Netherlands, says it will take 8.3 years to
earn it back.
• The ​Edge uses ​7​0 percent less electricity
than ​the typical office building​, but it wasn’t
until OVG installed panels on the rooftops of
some neighboring university buildings that
the Edge was able to boast that it produces
more energy than it consumes.
• The system employs LED instead of
conventional luminaires, which Philips says
will make the lighting in the building 80
percent more efficient
• The Philips LoE LED system was used in all
office spaces to reduce the energy
requirement by around 50% compared to
conventional TL-5 Lighting.
• The expected savings are €100 000 in
energy costs and €1,5-million in space
usage costs.
KEY ENVIRONMENTAL FEATURES

• Orientation.
• Facades

•Load bearing walls

•Louvers
•The North facades
•Solar panels

• Solar panel roof

• Energy reuse
• Rain water reuse
• Thermal energy storage
Conclusions:
• Phillips provides the best energy efficient
systems for a smart building
• Although initial investments are very high but
returns in the form of energy savings make up
for it over time
• Savings in a smart building + green building are
more than those in a building which is either
green or smart
• The best feature of the smart building is its user
friendliness which is achieved via smartphone
app
• Building techniques which reduce energy
consumption can pe integrated at an initial
stage or even retrofitted
• Smart building experience need not be limited
to the building itself but the user can carry it
with themselves through their smartphones
 Source: https://www.archdaily.com/785967/the-edge-plp-
architecture/571844afe58ecec7b10000a0-the-edge-plp-architecture-
diagram
https://www.breeam.com/case-studies/offices/the-edge-amsterdam/
https://www.axon.eco/smart-building-edge/

Thank you