This municipal hall has been designed in the historical core of Oirschot, a village to the north-west of Eindhoven. I chose the brief for my final year project out of an affinity with building in a historical context. The project is an enquiry into the identity of place and the meaning of buildings in context. It is also a denouncement of the over-the-top attitude to preservation and reconstruction among policymakers.

Sited on a new square in the village, the municipal hall as the representative of secular power stands at a respectful distance from the divine figurehead of the local Catholic church (Sint Petrus). Showing a similar respect for the historical network of footways and alleys, the design then extends the marketplace around the church with a characteristic pattern of squares and gardens.

The building itself consists of three successive slabs. The one at the front, looking from the square, is for the public and ceremonial functions. This administrative slab gets its stability from large cross braces, symbols of worldly might. The other two slabs contain offices.

The interior layout of the municipal hall is inspired by local phenomena. For example, the desktops, reception desks and suchlike are of oak. The partition walls in the offices are covered with textiles in colours used by Anton Kruysen, a local Impressionist painter. Outside, the square with parking beneath slots neatly into its setting.

The building uses materials of universal application. Glass facades encase a structure of concrete columns and floor slabs with steel stairs slung in-between. A screen of aluminium slats envelops the entire building. The lightness of this architecture contrasts with the great mass of the church, yet issues from the same traditions of craft and architecture in its own time. It additionally refers to a statue of Daedalus and Icarus in the present municipal hall: the building as a means of transcending the earthly in a heavenward flight.

Place of education: AvB Tilburg
Specialization: architecture
Tutors: Frank Wintermans, Koen Deprez, Hans van der Markt, Martien Jansen, Pnina Avidar.