Tower for a Market

With the transformation of Amsterdam’s Central Market Hall from wholesale warehouse to food and leisure spaces, a reinterpretation of the demolished clock tower was called for. Instead of showing time, the new tower saves time in the form of energy. The tower functions as an energy vault, storing energy generated from photovoltaic panels on the roof by lifting weights throughout the day. During the evening, the weights are allowed to slowly fall, driving dynamos which generate power for use in the food hub, hotel and a restored lighting design of the Central Market hall. The new tower is built on the existing foundation of the original tower. A reservation is made for the dynamo and any other machinery in the existing building. Like the original building, the new tower is supported by a rational steel skeleton, yet is clad with a semi-transparent veil of different densities of metal mesh. The weights appear as moving silhouettes moving up and down the tower, expressing energy as time and time as energy.