Cultural Center Energiehuis, Dordrecht

The current cultural stronghold with a pop music venue, a music school, a youth theatre school and many other cultural facilities is bursting with energy and possibilities. With five multifunctional concert halls (all of them with natural lighting), forty small rooms and catering establishments, the Energiehuis attracts people from the entire region.

TenBrasWestinga Architecture has sensed very accurately what would go well with the building. The ruggedness of the brick complex is left intact. Existing structures have in many places remained visible and old materials have been reused. To all this, robust steel constructions have been added. It looks deceptively simple, but it does exactly what it should do.

The ultimate find is the ‘cut’ through the complex where the entrances to the various functions are situated. In this bright and wide traffic space, ballet dancers, party-goers and concert visitors are given the opportunity to meet each other, and organizations are informally connected. Quite successfully, too: the Energiehuis is buzzing, also in the commercial sense of the word.