On Wegastraat on the Binckhorst in The Hague stand two cepezed buildings that share more than an address. The Wega.punt car park and the Eenheidsbureau, the National Police's new regional headquarters, have the same client, the same architect and the same structural engineer, but above all the same starting point: a building need not be tied to its first function. On Thursday 28 May, both can be visited during a project tour organised by Bouwen met Staal.
related by design
On the former Binckhorst industrial estate, we are working on two projects that complement each other. The Eenheidsbureau brings together police departments that were previously spread across separate locations, while Wega.punt provides the parking for its staff just down the road. Both buildings use steel as their load-bearing material and are designed to change function in the future.
a car park that can become an office
Wega.punt was a vacant office building cleared for demolition. Instead, we kept the shell and fitted out a car park inside it. A ramp circuit sits in the former courtyard, carried by eight new columns that pass through the basement box so as not to load the existing foundations. A perforated aluminium skin around the parking levels does away with mechanical ventilation and lets in daylight. Because every addition is fixed with nuts and bolts, the building turns back into an office just as easily once the police need less parking space.
