A flower-shaped roof made of timber for the Holland Casino in Venlo

The new casino in Venlo opened its doors at the beginning of July. The design by MVSA Architects plays on a flower theme and lays four organically shaped floor levels one above the other like the petals of a flower head for the casino in Venlo. With the organic forms of its architecture and an interactive facade shimmering in all hues, MVSA Architects makes a striking allusion to the importance of flowers in the Netherlands. The concept for the interior of the casino was developed together with the Las Vegas-based interior design firm Gensler.

What is only seen on second glance is the Free Form timber supporting structure, for which we took on the planning, production and assembly. Our Free Form specialists were brought on board by the architects early on in the pre-planning stage to investigate the feasibility of their floral design for the supporting structure and assess how it could be done. Our approved allied partner firms were also part of the project, in particular the structural engineers at SJB Kemper Fitze and the digital modelling experts at Design-to-Production.

The casino’s seemingly delicate flower head gives no hint of just how complex the supporting structure needs to be to hold it in place. ‘The challenges were huge, although we did benefit from our wealth of experience with similar projects. The well-oiled teamwork with our partner firms also helped us to successfully develop and implement the project,’ explains Jephtha Schaffner, the project manager responsible.

Click here for the reference: Free Form timber structures for Venlo casino