The brief presented a unique challenge in the form of stringent sustainability requirements set by Venlo municipality, which is the first region in the world to attempt full implementation of the Cradle-to-Cradle principles. The brief included designing a council office of about 15,000 square meters for Venlo’s planned Maaswaard district.
The project features green stencilized facade with varying transparent panels, an underground car park for 450 cars. Acting as a beacon for sustainable design, the green features of the facility includes two greenhouses situated on the building’s top lateral edges which, together with the office space and underground car park, will collect heat for attached housing, an air purification system aided by the River Maas, rainwater collection and use, and the predominance of sustainable wood in the construction.
Maaswaard will be developed on the eastern banks of the Maas, as an urban area that combines living and working, industrial heritage, and new buildings. The municipal office, linked to 70 homes and lettable commercial space, will serve as the landmark of this new urban district.
Cradle-to-Cradle design is a system of thinking based on the belief that human design can approach the effectiveness and elegance of natural systems by learning from nature and incorporating its patterns. Industry can be transformed into a sustaining enterprise – one that creates economic, ecological, and social value, through thoughtful and intentional designs that mirror the safe, regenerative productivity of nature, and eliminates the concept of waste.
Construction is slated to reach completion in 2013.
