This year, Buren's town hall has been transformed into a light, sustainable and open pavilion in the park at Maurik. The official opening took place on 26 September, but staff are already saying how pleased they are with the result.
'It's so good to be able to work in the new town hall,' says social support consultant Nadine Bosma-Wilbrink. 'It's beautiful and light, and from my desk I get to watch children fishing. By mid-morning people were already printing, phoning, laughing and working as if we'd never done it any other way. For our residents and for each other. And I'm proud of that.'
It's no surprise that staff are so positive about the new town hall. The building is efficiently constructed and now has an open character. Or, as Kees van der Zaag, policy adviser at the municipality of Buren, puts it: 'This new workplace is open and transparent. That suits the way we want to work as a municipality: close to our residents. The open feel of the building invites people to meet and collaborate, both with colleagues and with residents. It feels like a place built around connection, and I'm proud of that.'
a place to meet
The redevelopment started from a set of questions. How do you house a municipality efficiently, with less material and lower energy use, without compromising the quality of the public space? And how do you make a town hall flexible, a place that encourages people to meet, collaborate and connect, so that they actually want to come together and work there?
The answer was not a smaller version of the old town hall, but an entirely different type of building: forty percent more compact, demountable, and open to the park and to visitors.
For cepezed, this is not a chance decision but a firm conviction. Ronald Schleurholts: 'Building isn't just about putting up a new building, it's above all about using materials intelligently. cepezed has designed the new pavilion so that one day it can be taken apart and rebuilt elsewhere.'
from closed block to compact pavilion
This approach results in less floor area and lower running costs, but also less material, lower energy use and a building that better matches the size of the organisation. Where the old town hall stands high on a hill, cepezed looks instead to the estate behind it. 'We were looking for a building that fits into the landscape, but contrasts with the closed, castle-like character of the existing town hall,' says the design team.
The result is a low building, transparent and approachable from all sides. A 2.7-metre-deep canopy runs around the entire building, offering shelter from sun and rain. At the same time, it forms the transition between the interior and the park.
Bo van Gaal, sustainability officer at the municipality of Buren: 'Above all, I'm pleased that this town hall has been built with the future in mind. It's a sustainable, energy-neutral building with plenty of daylight and a pleasant working environment. That makes it comfortable to work in, and it also shows that as an organisation we're conscious of our surroundings and of the generations that come after us.'
