Tripolis Park / MVRDV

The creation of Tripolis, a trio of idiosyncratic office buildings of 11,000, 8,000, and 6,000 square meters, was inextricably linked to Van Eyck's masterpiece, the Amsterdam Orphanage. Completed in 1960, the orphanage was one of the most important projects of the Structuralist movement, yet by 1986 it was already threatened with demolition. A successful international campaign was launched to save the orphanage, and the municipality of Amsterdam offered the adjacent land to the developer – on the condition that Aldo and Hannie van Eyck should design the new office complex. In 1994, their new design was completed, and thus Tripolis began its life as the symbolic savior of the orphanage.