keeping watch over our coastal waters in a sea of daylight

An oil spill, mudflat walkers in distress, or vessels behaving suspiciously. From the control room in Den Helder, the Netherlands Coastguard keeps watch over the Dutch part of the North Sea day and night. For that task, cepezed designed two new buildings on the naval base: the Maritime Operations Centre (MOC) and the Contingency, Training and Test Location (UTT). Two buildings with plenty of timber and daylight-filled workspaces.

function and aesthetics
The MOC is where the Dutch part of the North Sea is monitored. Among others, customs, the police and the marechaussee work together in the building. Function came first, but we did not lose sight of aesthetics along the way. By positioning the building services, the emergency generator, the bicycle store and the changing rooms logically, room was left for a large reception hall and two double-height operations rooms with a panoramic view of the water and the town. Between the two rooms lies a spacious pantry with a balcony.

a warm jacket 
The hall, the press area and the operations rooms have a largely exposed timber load-bearing structure. From the hall and the press area there is a view into the operations rooms, without this disrupting the work going on there. Martine Vader of the Coastguard: 'The control room is a very large space, but when you walk in it feels like a jacket around you. You see beautiful oak beams. And thought has gone into sound damping and into how the light comes in. The walls have been given a special finish to absorb sound. And you have the same light intensity everywhere.'

bamboo
The façade alternates glass with bamboo, in keeping with the coastal setting. 'A very sustainable material that has captured CO2,' Vader says. 'The bamboo is still brown now, but it will slowly turn grey.' In anticipation of the expected sea level rise, the building stands on a newly raised mound one metre high.

two buildings, one family
The MOC stands by the access bridge to the naval base, with the UTT a little further along. The two buildings differ from one another, but architecturally they are clearly family. Both are a kit of parts made up of high-quality, reusable prefabricated elements. Together with a demountable structure, a high degree of flexibility and PV panels on the roof, this makes the buildings sustainable. The prefab approach also made for a short construction time of eighteen months and fewer transport movements, because we could load lorries efficiently. No small thing on a secure naval base.

an identity of its own
For the Coastguard, it is also a milestone. 'Next year the Coastguard turns forty, and for the first time they really get a building of their own, with an identity of its own,' says Wendy Kuiper of the Central Government Real Estate Agency. 'You can see, for instance, that the Coastguard's colours, orange and blue, are recurring elements in the design.'

We are glad that the Coastguard let us know how good it was turning out even during construction. We thank the Central Government Real Estate Agency, cepezedinterieur, Nelissen Ingenieursbureau, Arcadis and De Nijs Bouw en Ontwikkeling for the pleasant collaboration.