The City Hall of Alphen aan den Rijn is the first project realised in the redevelopment for the centre of this expanding Dutch city, and sets the tone for the ambition of the future developments. The building’s glass façade responds directly to the council’s goal to create an open and inviting facility.
The introduction of natural light and the use of light coloured natural materials internally reinforces the building’s public function and encourages visitors. All the public facilities are located on the ground floor with the upper floor council hall projecting over the entrance, thus expressing its accessibility to the public.
The exterior is treated as a layered skin that encloses the three parts of the building - city hall, service department and offices - binding them together whilst at the same time allowing each to be expressed.
The main volume of the city hall has a transparent glass skin enclosing an atrium behind. The lower volumes, which are primarily clad in stone, house the service department and offices. The building’s complex form resolves the scale differences in the surrounding urban fabric. In these ways, the design responds sensitively to the nuances of the location as well as to the programmatic and spatial requirements.
Without losing itself in monumentality, the building refers to the iconic function historically embraced by the ‘House of the City’. Open, inviting and accessible, it can be seen as a contemporary beacon reflecting the image of this growing community.
design 1997-1999, realisation 2000-2002
