City Hall and Train Station, Delft

Arriving in Delft must be an unforgettable experience. That is the idea of ​​Mecanoo architects from the start. The choice is made to design a station hall and town hall that immediately makes it clear to visitors that they are in Delft. The combination of a station hall and a town hall on top of an underground station that functions as it were as a metro station is unique. When you go up the escalators, the impressive ceiling of the station hall unfolds. If you look outside, you will see the historic city and the old station as a modern "View of Delft" by Vermeer.

A vaulted ceiling, with an impressive historic map of Delft and surroundings from 1877, connects the station hall with the city hall. The walls and columns are tiled with a modern interpretation of Delft Blue. From the station hall you can walk directly into the city hall. The glass skin of the building reflects the Dutch cloudy skies. The panels of molten glass with lens-like spheres refer to the cast glass that can be found in many old buildings in Delft.

Endless planning of the form has resulted in a building that is versatile and compact. The lowered roof lines on the corners ensure a gradual transition to the small-scale existing buildings of the Delft city centre and the adjacent Westerkwartier area. The versatility connects the historic city centre to the east of the railway tunnel with the neighbourhoods to the west, where most Delft residents live, and thus redefines the centre of the city. Incisions in the glass mass of the town hall form a pattern of alleys and courtyards, inspired by the intricate structure of streets in old Delft.

The façade openings are determined on the basis of the sun orientation, for an optimum ratio between daylight entry and heat transmission. The combination of transparent panels of high performance glass and solid panels with molten glass ensures an energy-efficient climate concept and a high degree of sustainability. Manually operable windows contribute to the well-being of users. Solar panels on the roof provide 20% of the energy for the building. Daylight-controlled lighting has been used to save energy. The building has a GreenCalc + score of 270.