The United Nations intends to make it clear that all war criminals must and will be punished, by setting up a permanent War Tribunal in The Hague between Utrechtsebaan and the Royal Library. Whether the judges will succeed in getting justice done is of course another matter. One can cite the law and impose a sentence without there being any possibility at all of it being carried out; the scales of justice simply fail to balance. This issue is one point of departure for the building's architecture. The design constructs the classic labyrinth, Ariadne's clue of thread, symbolizing the long journey the judges have to travel to be able to execute their task. This figure of movement taking up the entire interior, commences at a small opening in the outer wall and continues along numerous 'episodes' to the three law courts in the building's centre.

The Tribunal consists of two volumes. The main volume where the prisoners are temporarily detained is sealed off, half below ground and entirely of concrete. Above it hovers a box containing the law courts, as if severed from the lower by the sword of good and evil. Delicate in appearance, its glazed cladding is itself protected by a second skin, a sun screen whose oblique placement threatens to unbalance them both.

Hybrid buildings like the War Tribunal necessarily have a complex programme. Each facility can function on its own and has its own form, even its own structure at times. Though visually distinct as such in plan and section the episodes are a unit nonetheless. Hence unity of parts and whole is a question of complementarity, of parts that mate up.

Place of education: Amsterdam
Tutors: Chris Scheen, Jan Lambeck, Niek van Vught, Peter Defeche & Erik Pasveer
Specialization: architecture