City hall Alphen aan den Rijn

The City Hall of Alphen is the first project in the redevelopment of this Dutch city, and sets the tone for future developments. The building's glass façade responds directly to the council's goal to create an open and inviting facility. All the public facilities are located on the ground floor with the upper floor council hall projecting over the entrance, thus expressing its accessibility to the public. The exterior is treated as a layered skin that encloses the three parts of the building - city hall, service department and offices. The main volume of the city hall has a transparent glass skin enclosing an atrium behind. The lower volumes, which are primarily clad in stone, house the service department and offices. The building's complex form resolves the scale differences in the surrounding urban fabric. In these ways, the design responds sensitively to the nuances of the location as well as to the programmatic and spatial requirements.