education
education
education
municipal office Winterswijk
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architecture
interior
workspaces
housing
mixed-use
location
Winterswijk
client
Victoria BV
project team
Maarten Sanders, Armand Paardekooper Overman, Kitty Luiken, Martin Vinkestein, Jelle Seffinga, Joeri Apontoweil, Hans Witt, Wim de Pagter, Anouk Dekker & Chantal den Boer
photography
Thea van den Heuvel (DAPh)
completion
2010
new municipal office with housing
The municipal office is an important part of an urban redevelopment that will form the link between the area around the station and the village center of Winterswijk. The building houses the public functions and most of the municipal apparatus.
scale
Since time immemorial, buildings such as churches, town halls and castles have dominated the skyline of otherwise small-scale villages and towns. The design was therefore made on the belief that the incorporation of a relatively large building into a small-scale environment need not be problematic. It goes well as long as a building has a characteristic form, is publicly accessible, and has a relationship with its surroundings.
The municipal office has a simple form, in which the scale of Winterswijk is recognizable in the rhythm of the building. Two large gateways, one facing the station, the other the village, give access to an inner courtyard. Public spaces are organized around this central courtyard. It is a sober and purposeful building, without looking like an anonymous office building.
compact and sustainable
Due to an extremely compact shape, the building has an efficient internal organization. The floors have different floor plans, offering a variety of uses. The transparent facades around the courtyard provide visual contact between the various departments. In addition, the compactness of the building allows for an economical use of energy. Sustainability was also considered during construction by choosing local building materials wherever possible.
In the project, triple land use has been realized. In addition to an underground parking garage, 10 homes were built on the top layer. These homes take the form of a street of linked bungalows. The amount of umbrellas, plants and garden chairs that residents will grow here over time give the building an informal character. In this way, reducing the distance
between government and citizens takes on a metaphorical form: in Winterswijk, the municipality resides not only among residents, but even among them.
