Hydrapier Water Pavilion, Amsterdam Netherlands
Hydra Pier Water Pavilion is a structure built as a pavilion for Haarlemmermeer’s Floriade exhibition in 2002 – a massive, once-a-decade Dutch horticultural fair in Amsterdam. The building actually floating onto a lake and it’s in this reclaimed area below sea level. One interesting feature, which really amused visitors is the water continuously flowing over the roof and walls of the building, beneath which the structural-glass construction dematerializes.
This is the kind of digital architecture that wins awards, as indeed it has. Technically, the use of the curved, laminated glass with sufficient strength to support the water on the roof without heavy mullions was an engineering breakthrough, and essential to the dematerialization theme. But the brief was to create a permanent work of architecture, and in that respect a visitor to the pavilion today can only be disappointed.
To get there follow these instructions. It is located in Haarlemmermeer, which is a small town just next to the southwest corner of Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. The Hydra Pavilion is on the northwest side of the Floriade lake, itself to the northwest edge of Haarlemmermeer.
To get there by car or taxi from Schiphol Airport, take the A4 towards the southwest, and turn right onto the N201 through Haarlemmermeer. On the far side of town, where this road is called Kruisweg, turn right onto the N205 (Drie Merenweg).
