It is nicknamed "de schoen" (Dutch for the shoe) or "de kruimeldief" (Dutch for hand held vacuum cleaner).

The postmodern design is by Amsterdam-based architects Meyer and Van Schooten (Meyer en Van Schooten [nl]).

[1] The construction, which took place from November 1999 to September 2002, was undertaken by Heijmans.

[2] The building is constructed like a table on 16 angled steel legs.

These are independent of each other, resting on pins in large concrete blocks in the ground, a technique also found in bridge construction.