In the centre of Veenendaal stands the residential, commercial and cultural building ‘Tricotage’ right in the hart of the new town centre at the main square. At the south side this square is outlined by three expressive ‘buildings’ of Tricotage: Spectrum with the striking ballet hall as a round eye-catcher, the monumental building in the middle and the characteristic, flamboyant corner building with a double height shop entrance. Along side the new canal residential and retail properties adapt to the existing shopping streets and passages of town.
Spectrum combines a music school, a people’s university and a movie theatre. It has three special rooms; a multipurpose hall and an ensemble room next to the public foyer and a ballet hall on top floor. They provide space for open stage, festivals, shows, exhibitions or lectures.
Around the block shops, restaurants and other amenities at ground level create an urban atmosphere. Below the block, under water level, there is a three-storey public car park. At the same time, this central location is ideally suited as a residential area. On the upper floors there is a rich variety of apartments around two compact and intimate courtyards, combining the dynamic outside world with a quiet and small inner world.
The wide variety of the surrounding architecture and its rich industrial history are processed along with the complex program with different functions into a fine ‘knitwear’ - the meaning of Tricotage.
The building reacts on all four sides on its surrounding: big buildings at the square, residences at the canal and at the streets a small housing scale and an industrial scale. This is combined with a fixed selection of material, typology and details which creates a varying architecture.
Location
Veenendaal, The Netherlands
Year of completion
2013
GFA
36.000 m2
Program
2,600 m2 cultural centre Spectrum with music school, facilitative education and cinema, 5,900 m2 of shops, 87 apartments and 500 underground parking spaces
Client
Municipality of Veenendaal
Contractor
Trebbe Group / Welling Construction
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