Utrecht Town Hall Rehabilitation
The building has gone into a kind of decay, and the routine is part of the building now: it seems to have forgotten its treasures and origins.
Rediscover the value of the interior rooms in the neoclassical building, primarily in the medieval hall. Go back to the idea of a municipal building as a conglomerate of different town houses.
Keep the monumental quality on the bank of the canal propitiate a much more open and friendly relationship between the municipal building and the new piazza at the back.
When the city decided to accept the demolition of the brick building at the rear it allowed the project to adopt the quality of a residential building. Thus the neoclassical building becomes a kind of ‘monument’ which forms part of the streets and piazzas so, when the door is open, it is part of the public space of the city.
The monumental part of the building will be displayed on the ground floor. The oldest interior walls are part of a new way of displaying the building, major walls and rooms are preserved.
The new Council Hall will be the new room that has importance, it is very similar to the Medieval Hall in dimensions. Light will come from the roof and a new atmosphere will be created there, the new stairs coming from the new entrance will provide direct access to it.
Most of the offices for civil servants are located in the new wing. The correct dimensions of the rooms and a long perimeter allow natural light to enter all the working places. The building runs parallel to Ganzenmarkt, and has the scale of the houses on both sides of the street.
In the construction of the new wing we reuse materials from the demolition (bricks, stone frames, etc.) in order to produce a new building with material quality. The second floor is going to be entirely dedicated to main political representatives, with that, the new building will have the main political activity concentrated in the neoclassical building.
I think this new order of the program is very important for the new building. The conservation of the building with the 1930’s façade is the way to define Gazenmarkt and to turn towards the new piazza. The restaurant-café then establishes a friendly connection between the Town Hall and the city. A piazza for public use appears between the new wing and the neoclassical part.