House of Culture and Public Administration

A building to mark the centre of the Dutch town of Nijverdal. A building that will at the same time harmonise perfectly with the existing structure. A building that will make passers-by curious to find out what’s inside. That will beckon you to enter it. And that will explain itself as you walk into it. Municipal authorities, a theatre and a library must function independently, side by side, and at the same time constitute a whole: a Culture House.
Surprising, multifunctional and sustainable.
A building that will enhance the character of its surroundings.
The offices of the existing town hall dating from the 1960s in the centre of Nijverdal (Municipality of Hellendoorn) will be incorporated in a large public complex, which will comprise not only a new representative wing of the town hall with management and meeting facilities and a council chamber, but also cultural organisations including a library, a theatre and a tourist information office.

The design is based on a series of impressive linked brick barrel vaults that will lend the building a distinct character of its own. Not only will it underline the function of the Huis voor Cultuur en Bestuur as the municipality’s most important public building, but it will also give Nijverdal, a town that is just over a century old and has no individual architectural character, a powerful new identity.

Existing and new building volumes have been thoughtfully arranged around a serene interior garden - a green patio inside the building block, suitable for exhibitions and outdoor performances. The public route from the entrance area to the interior garden will within the enveloping arched structure be comprised by an impressive entrance hall reminiscent of vestibules of Venetian palazzi. The hall will provide direct access to all the functions accommodated in the building, and can hence be used as a passageway and a communal foyer, but at the same time it will afford scope for individualising the various users.
At the centre of the hall – accessible via an elegant spiral staircase – will be the council chamber, clearly visible from Dunantplein as representing the town’s democratic management.