Architect: OMA
Location: Amsterdam
Completion Date: December 2023
In 1985 the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) entered a competition to design a bank headquarters for J.P. Morgan in Amsterdam’s Oud-Zuid neighborhood. The fledgling firm ultimately lost the bid to Wim Quist, the celebrated Dutch modernist. OMA has now returned to the site with Apollolaan 171, a multi-tenant office, that borrows similarities from the firm’s submission to the 1985 competition.
Quist’s building was decidedly more introverted than the 1985 OMA proposal, and featured minimal glazing to ensure the security of the bank’s holdings. Eventually, J.P. Morgan moved its bank to a location further South, and the midcentury Quist building was repurposed as an office lease.
