ARCHITECTURAL FOCUS
“ The exterior of the building consists of a U-shaped metal profile that wraps around the building from street level to the top floor .
The question pondered by the architects was how to build a car park , considered utilitarian , facing the city ’ s most historic monument . That question was met with a unique architectural response in the form of a proposition to , in addition to the program , create a sculptural belvedere located in the axis of the street and the castle , imagined in collaboration with artist Krijn de Koning .
The car park , curved and translucent
The car park is organized in a triangle , with rounded corners that minimize the mass effect and create sleek and vanishing lines that make the building appear smaller than it actually is . The interior space is designed like a car ride organized around a double circuit : you go up via slightly sloping lots that wrap around a central triangular patio ; you descend directly via a cylindrical ramp around a central void .
The building is a translucent and light volume that blends smoothly into the urban fabric , with curves at the ends of the triangle corresponding with those of the rounded corners of the neighboring buildings . The facades are 50 % empty , so the car park is considered exempt from fire regulations , and they are clad in vertical glass strips placed at 45 ° ( 60 % recycled glass and enameled to be opalescent ). The empty gaps create a variety of additional views of the city .
The exterior of the building consists of a U-shaped metal profile that wraps around the building from street level to the top floor . Between these metallic U-shaped sections , the glass strips mask the interior in a show-and-tell pattern that can be seen from both inside and outside the garage . By day , the functionality of the building is on full display . By night , perceptions changes thanks to indoor lighting that softly etches the urban landscape .
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