School building relocated in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

In Amsterdam’s Zuidas district, Bresser relocated a school building weighing nearly a million kilograms (the equivalent of 200 elephants) over a distance of 30 meters. All the contents of the school and daycare center remained in place inside the building. The school building was moved using steel rollers on six tracks. To position these rollers under the school, the building was first lifted using 42 computer-controlled jacks. The school section was moved next to the recently built second section of the school, to subsequently form a single building.

The school building of the ‘Kindercampus Zuidas’, designed by Fact Architects and Hund Falk Architects, is brand-new, but could not be built in the intended location because a sports hall was still standing there. A first section was temporarily built behind the sports hall so that the children could receive education and childcare there. Once the sports hall had been demolished and the second section was ready, the first section could be moved.