Taets Art and Conference Centre

While much of the exterior of the building was kept as it was, the new art and conference center in an industrial town in the Netherlands has a stunning interior. It’s beautifully done, and I love the contrast between the outside and the inside.

Liong Lieの主宰するロッテルダムの建築事務所「123DV architects」が、オランダのザーンダムにある古い兵器工場をコンベンションセンターに改築した。外側は古い建物のままだが、中に入ると外観からは想像のつかないような非常に美しいデザインだ。

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos © Christian Richter
 
^Who: Liong Lie/ 123DV architects
^What: Taets Art and Conference Centre
^Where: Zaandam, North Holland
^When: March 2009
^How: 7 Session rooms (capacity 10-25 people) and 1 conference room (capacity 40 people) in a former ammunition factory
^Size: 580 square meter
^Client: Jaarbeurs Utrecht bv
^{Design Team:} Roeland de Jong, Berry van Empel, Floor Theuns, Jerzy Wozniak, Pawel Garus, Raphael Floris
 

Taets art and conference centre

The main challenge of the project was: How can the spirit of the existing monumental building and former ammunition factory become the outstanding feature of the new conference centre?

In the interior we analyzed 2 monumental features which define the interior space:

1 The gabled roof.
It’s elegance of the metal structure and the craftsmanship of the wooden ceiling.
In order to have maximal impact of the roof landscape the new rooms are kept free from the existing monumental roof. In contrast with the roof, the new walls are treated as abstract white boxes. They are also visually kept free from the floor through the use of Led light.

2 The windows.
Classical window composition through slender metal frames.
The existing monumental slender metal windows are framed in a wooden frame to emphasize the classical appearance. The frame houses all installations such as heating, airco, wooden blinds

Former ammunition factory
As a metaphor for the bullit shape the central conference room is designed as an oval shape, with walls which are cladded with copper.