Heerlen city office: facades flirt with the past

Heerlen's Town Hall has a new little brother. A former, adjacent V&D building made way for the new Heerlen Municipal Office. Architect Luuk van Wijlick of Mecanoo cut his teeth on this project with enthusiasm. "When you come from the region, you are extra keen to give the city something beautiful back."

From "green monster" to a modern city office with multifunctional public hall and municipal offices. "The contrast could not be greater," says Van Wijlick. Client municipality Heerlen came with the requirement to create a "fresh" building that invites to visit. In addition, there had to be a connection between the adjacent - architect Frits Peutz designed - Town Hall from 1942. An honorable assignment for Mecanoo. "I come from the region. Moreover, I studied in Heerlen. In terms of teaching material, as an architecture student I really couldn't ignore Peutz's building. An icon. I was always amazed at the big difference between the two buildings. A tall, bulky building in a mint green color with a poor facade finish. The site presented itself as an L-shape in which we had to put all the volume. However, the long end of the L was a dead end. A rational square design with an extra floor was the solution."

Connection

Logically, Van Wijlick and his team designed the public functions of the public hall on the first floor. In addition, the program included a call center, offices, a meeting center, an entrepreneurial house and collaboration spaces. The offices are located from the second floor connected to the public area by a void. The design takes advantage of the level differences in the site. A key issue was the connection between the new building and Council House. Anyone entering the Council House cannot avoid the monumental staircase at the entrance. The staircase behind it and forgotten storage area were exactly in the extended axis of the public hall of the Heerlen City Office. The ideal starting point for Mecanoo. "This was an important axis in Peutz's design because above it are the mayor's office and council chamber. By extending that axis and threading the entire program onto it, a strong concept was created. An afterwards logical solution to a complex problem."   

Optimal daylight

Mecanoo based the window frames of the Heerlen City Office on the traditional South Limburg construction method. Natural stone openings with deep and beveled day edges. Van Wijlick used the window frames to detail away Reynaers Aluminium's MasterLine 8 profiles. This on the advice of facade builder Van Hoesel Aluminium. "For the facade, we did no less than fifty studies. We were looking for the perfect balance between volume and transparency. In addition, the windows had to be easy to maintain and energy efficient. Cooling a building costs the most energy. That means keeping sunlight out. Placing the windows deep in the shell created a natural canopy. This blocks out a lot of sunlight. On the north side, we made a sloping day side so that more daylight comes in. This in turn reduces the need for artificial light. We were looking for a super slim profile with a tilt-turn system. Reynaers Aluminium was the only one able to supply this."

Reference to past

Asked about Van Wijlick's sources of inspiration, he is clear. For him, the location often guides the final design. With many issues, he found the solution at Peutz. So too with the use of stone types. In the old Town Hall, Peutz used Brauvilliers on the outside. A sand-colored natural stone from the vicinity of Nancy. On the inside, walls of whitewashed brick were placed. Van Wijlick based his design for the City Office on this. "We added a little twist by exactly reversing the choice of brick. The interior walls of the Heerlen City Office have the warm look of natural stone travertine. The exterior consists of chalked white brick. A subtle reference to the past. In this way, Peutz's Limburg architectural heritage is never far away."