On Thursday, November 13, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands opened Beemster’s new Cheese Dairy. Commissioned by CONO Cheesemakers, a co-op of 475 dairy farmers, founded in 1901, and purveyor to the Royal Householdsince 2001, this sustainable cheese dairy is designed by Bastiaan Jongerius Architects and replaces the existing dairy facility, which was built in 1929 and is ready to be retired. Because the Beemster Polder is a designated World Heritage Site, the design required approval from both UNESCO and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands.
Greenestcheese dairy in the world
The new dairy, which like the existing complex will be called ‘The Time’, combines modern production processes with cheese making techniques that involve manually stirring the whey and curd in open drainage bins. This method, as well as the role of the cheese masters, lends Beemster Cheese its unique taste. A tall stages of the production process, CONO works as sustainably as possible, and the Urgenda Foundation has designated it as a sustainability leader in the dairy industry. A decisive factor in the design of the new building is sustainability. The dairy itself, the offices and the site layout feature sustainable and timeless materials.The building is naturally insulated and allows for plenty of daylight. Solar panels are mounted on the roof. As a carbon-neutral building that will become fully climate-neutral over time, the new cheese dairy has been nominated for ARC14, the prize for the most sustainable building in the Netherlands.
Historic landscape
The Beemster Polderwas established in the early 17th century and has been listed as a world heritage site since 1999. According to UNESCO, it exemplifies the Dutch art of engineering and blends works of structural ingenuity with grandambitions in landscape design. CONO Cheesemakers has contributed significantly to this exceptional landscape. In 2009, a committee of experts evaluated designs submitted by three competing architecture firms,and selected the entry submitted by Bastiaan Jongerius Architects, which is inspired by the perception of perspective in the Beemster Polder. The long, low structure, which houses the cheese dairy, merges seamlessly with the geometric polder and echoes the synergy between the traditional farmhouse and the landscape. The building is set towards the rear of the site, so that it appears smaller from the road. Landscape architect Michael van Gessel (member of the assessment committee): “The new cheese dairy is a transparent building that blends smoothly with the surrounding field structure in terms of size, scale and height.” In 2016, when the new dairy becomes fully operational, the existing dairy on the adjoining plot will be dismantled and the site will be returned to the landscape.
Precise architecture
The cheese dairy features a layered facade made up of a row of wooden columns in front of a glass wall. Its transparency makes the proximity of cheese making and landscape visible from both inside and outside the building. In its materials, colour scheme and degree of transparency, the facade displays similarities with the on site whey powder tower which was completed in 2005. Former state architect Tjeerd Dijkstra (chairman of the assessment committee): “Architectural tools are precisely deployed to create this building with a powerful functional appearance. The dairy continues the tradition of simple and careful industrial architecture that is typical of the Dutch polder landscape and of the Beemster region in particular.”
Sustainability
• Natural heat regulation through well-insulated building envelope with double glass skin and sandwich panels with a high reflectance value.
• Storage warehouse partly below ground ensures consistent temperature.
• The whole building is daylight controlled.
• The whole building requires almost no maintenance. For example: glass facade with rubber strips, untreated wood impregnated with equal weathering stain, roof with 1.2 mm thick synthetic material.
• Sustainable materials have been deployed throughout the building, among them wood with an FSC quality certificate for the colonnade.
• CONO aims to become carbon-neutral over time, making the new cheese dairy 30-40% more energy efficient per kilo of cheese than the old dairy. The current improvement saves 15% on gas, 8% on electricity, 76% on mains water, 47% on wastewater.
• The building has been nominated for ARC14, the prize for the most sustainable building in the Netherlands.
Landscape/UNESCO:
• The Beemster Polder was added to the list of world heritage sites in 1999 on account of its rational geometric structure. According to UNESCO, the open character and layout of the countryside must be preserved so that the landscape design from the 17th century remains visible.
• Perception of perspective has been carefully studied: an elongated building is best able to preserve the openness of the landscape.
• The building does not protrude above the lines of trees that enclose the landscape ‘rooms’.
• The original pattern of drainage ditches is restored.
• The adjoining plot with the existing daily complex will be returned to the landscape.
Architecture:
• Precision dimensioning blends harmoniously with the landscape design and the grand identity of the client.
• Transparent building faces in all directions thanks to the surrounding colonnade that controls and shapes the transition between inside and outside, both structurally and architecturally.
• Deployment of materials (glass, concrete, wood) lends the building an industrial yet crafted appearance.
• Connection with the whey powder tower in choice of materials, colour composition and varied transparency in the facade.
• The building has been nominated for the Arie Keppler Prize 2014.
Design and construction
Investment: 80 million
Start of design: (limited competition) October 2008
Size: 15,000 m2 GFA, 56 m wide, 221 m long
Height:
colonnade 7 m above ground level
roof height 8.65 m above ground level warehouse 4.25 below ground level (floor-ceiling height 10 m)
Architect: Bastiaan Jongerius Architects
Landscape + site layout advice: DS Landscape architects
Building technology advice: Feenstra Adviseurs and ABT adviseurs in bouwtechniek
Interior architect: Hugo Broeders
Contractor: Visser & Smit Bouw
Construction manager: Peter Schurink
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Immediately after its opening, the cheese dairy won two Dutch architecture prizes.
On 13 November 2014 the building won the Arie Keppler Prize for spatial quality in North Holland, awarded every two years by the WZNH foundation. According to the jury report: "This project surpasses categories. Although submitted in the utilitarian building category, the new CONO Cheese Dairy is just as relevant as a landscape -project and as an example of a good heritage philosophy in the context of the Beemster Polder. With its extended horizontality and almost mathematical incorporation into the dimensioning system of the Beemster Polder, the design pays homage to the DNA of the location. The architect kept a tight rein on the development even while following an open procedure, and the collaboration between client and architect has been exemplary."
On 27 November 2014 the cheese dairy also won the ARC14 Architecture Award. Presented each year by the Dutch journal de Architect, this prize rewards projects in which function and technology enhance each other in an innovative manner. ARC14 Architecture focused on projects that combine exceptional architecture with high performance in the area of sustainability. Excerpt from the jury report: "The jury unanimously decided to reward a project that adopted an integral approach to architecture and sustainability, in which the client stuck out his neck, and in which the building and surroundings form a unified composition. The winner of the ARC14 Architecture Award is the CONO Cheese Dairy in the Beemster Polder by Bastiaan Jongerius Architects."
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