The Cuyperspassage Amsterdam

The Cuyperspassage runs underneath Amsterdam's Central Station and connects the northern IJ side with Stationsplein on the south side of the station. The 15,000 pedestrians and cyclists who pass by every day admire a beautiful wall covered with painted tiles on one side and, on the other side, a sleek wall with stainless steel (type 316) Staco gratings.

Amsterdam's Central Station and the immediate surroundings are being completely modified. The reason for this is that the station must now deal with at least 10 times as many commuters per day as it did in 1889, when it was designed by the architect, P. Cuypers. The tunnel named after him was built at the request of Prorail and the municipality of Amsterdam.

The Cuyperspassage, also known as the "Slow Traffic Passage", was opened to the public in November 2015. Since then, cyclists and pedestrians have been able to cross over from the IJ to the city centre of Amsterdam easily and safely. The tunnel runs under the tracks of Central Station and the total length is 100 metres.

Staco supplied the gratings that were devised for this project by the architects, van Benthem Crouwel. This wall also consists of curved gratings that had to be rolled for this purpose. Because of the sleek appearance, Staco has produced a mould which means that the gratings all have exactly the same radius.

During the production process, the gratings were tested by both Staco and the client to guarantee quality. In addition, the gratings were packed in order of installation, making it easy for the metal construction worker to install the gratings in exactly the right place and, on top of that, a considerable amount of time was saved. A total of 370 gratings measuring 2000x900mm were used for this project: 264 straight and 106 rolled gratings. A number of gratings have been designed with circular cut outs to allow for the installation of other facilities, including lighting. Some gratings have also been fitted with hinges, so that the gratings can be lifted up easily.

Staco product used

Press gratings type RR

Technical information

Staco pressed gratings RR 2-30/22x99 RVS316L , straight and rolled gratings

Location

Main railway station Amsterdam

Application

Ceiling
Decoration

Used in sectors 

Architectural
Public