HAAGSE HOUT MUNICIPAL BUILDING
NEW TYPOLOGY | ENERGY EFFICIENT
Location
Loudonstraat, The Hague
Description
50 homes for seniors, 24 apartments, psycho medical centre, health centre and municipal offices
Client
Municipality of The Hague
Completion
2005
PRIVATE AND PUBLIC MIXED
Haagse Hout municipal building forms part of a complex of buildings along the boundary between the districts of Bezuidenhout and Mariahoeve in The Hague. The area of Bezuidenhout designed by Berlage includes Plan Molensloot by Cornelis van Eesteren, which is cut into two equal halves by Loudonstraat. There is an extensive programme consisting of 50 homes for seniors, a psycho medical centre, 24 apartments, a health centre and municipal offices.
The municipal building combines offices and public functions. The building extends parallel to the long axis through the area and reads as a single entity in terms of appearance, character and dimensions, with the opposite block, which contains the health centre and housing units.
Expressing the transparency of government, an important democratic achievement, was one of the main goals right from the outset. Public functions are visible from the street through glazed ‘display windows’, making the urban space flow into the building. The plan arrangement includes two elongated open spaces on either side of a zone of amenities. The space on the street side has public functions, while the other side contains the office area. The building volume on Loudonstraat responds to the continuous movement along the street, while the form, rhythm, plasticity and serenity of the façades to the courtyards blend with the surrounding neighbourhood.
stadsdeelkantoor den haag link_environmentally-friendly buildings as a starting-point for the design
stadsdeelkantoor den haag link_overzichtelijk en transparant
