The town hall we designed for the municipality of Buren has been nominated for the Nationale Houtbouwprijs 2026, the Dutch national award for timber construction. From 43 longlisted projects in the Commercial timber construction category, the expert jury selected three. The other two are The CubeHouse in Amsterdam and Non Plus Ultra III in Wageningen. The winners will be announced on 17 November at the Houtdag in Leiden.
The trade journal Het Houtblad presents the award each year to encourage building with timber in the Netherlands. This year, 81 projects were submitted. The jury selects a winner in each category and an overall winner.
The town hall is a waterside pavilion in a park in Maurik. It occupies the site of the former car parks, so the park and the water are largely preserved. From the park, you see the timber structure through the glass façades. It continues into the roof, where diagonal beams cross like branches, a reference to the fruit growing and tree nurseries in the municipality. Between the branches, rooflights bring daylight deep into the building.
The building contains 335 m³ of timber, from the glulam columns to the CLT panels in the roof. A 16.3 metre timber edge beam keeps the council chamber and the work café column-free. We designed the structure together with Pieters Bouwtechniek. Woodteq prefabricated the elements in Holten and worked with us on the joints, resulting in connections where the fixings are barely visible. Bouwbedrijf Osnabrugge built the pavilion. The timber structure is demountable, so the timber can be reused later.
Alongside the jury awards, there is a public award. You can vote up to and including Friday 13 November:
→ vote
