Movement Real Estate and the Van Deursen Group have taken the initiative to develop two residential towers with Mecanoo architecten within the Central Innovation District (CID), a stone's throw from the Hollands Spoor station and the center of The Hague.

The project responds to the promotion of the inner-city densification the municipality is encouraging, due to the population growth of The Hague scheduled for the next twenty years.

The iconic two-tower ensemble proposed by Mecanoo architecten, one reaching 150 meters and the other 180 meters, sits on a seven-storey plinth. The plinth features commercial functions, a restaurant and offices on the ground floor, while its upper levels contain housing, offices and communal facilities.

The Grace is being realised at Rijswijkseweg near the city centre and overlooks the Trekvliet canal, which will be transformed into a waterfront park for pedestrians and cyclists in the coming years. The residential concept is based on the growing demand for affordable housing and fostering a sense of community.

Description of project by Mecanoo architecten

The population of The Hague will grow considerably in the next twenty years from 525,000 residents to over 625,000. To meet this challenge, the municipality is encouraging inner-city densification within the Central Innovation District (CID), a triangular area bound by the city’s three train stations. Densification will begin in three priority zones within the CID. These zones are clustered around the train stations, in accordance with the guidelines presented in the city’s 2018 high-rise report “Eyeline Skyline”. Movement Real Estate and the Van Deursen Group have taken the initiative to develop two residential towers with Mecanoo architecten within one of these CID priority zones, a stone's throw from Hollands Spoor Station and the centre of The Hague.

Affordable high-rise living
The Grace is being realised at Rijswijkseweg near the city centre and overlooks the Trekvliet canal, which will be transformed into a waterfront park for pedestrians and cyclists in the coming years. The Velostrada bicycle highway is also being built, and will connect The Hague with the surrounding municipalities. The Grace links the Binckhorst and Laakhavens neighbourhoods with the city-centre, and its combination of living and working spaces connects (starting) entrepreneurs with residents. The residential concept is based on the growing demand for affordable housing and fostering a sense of community. With over 1500 social, medium and free-sector rental properties and a wide range of communal facilities, The Grace addresses this need.

Graceful icon
The iconic two-tower ensemble, one reaching 150 meters and the other 180 meters, sits on a seven-storey plinth. The buildings form a harmonious composition with subtle variations in open and closed facade elements, transparent and solid corners, materialisation and colour. Residents can enjoy a view of the city and, beyond that, of the sea. The plinth features commercial functions, a restaurant and offices on the ground floor, while its upper levels contain housing, offices and communal facilities. Arcades on either side of the complex offer protection against wind and rain, and create sheltered places for restaurant customers and shoppers.

Community
The plinth opens to the Schipperskwartier neighbourhood and the new Trekvlietpark in the form of a raised green roof garden that offers space to the resident community for all kinds of activities. A transparent lobby forms the lively heart of the complex. It offers work and gathering areas for residents, a reception desk for visitors, and an overview of the activities in the surrounding co-working spaces. The lobby is, in fact, an extended home. Here, you can meet each other, or find a place to work or study. The community is further enhanced by shared courtyards and roof gardens, a communal kitchen, sports facilities, and a movie theatre. In addition, the building supports an emerging sustainable subculture, providing residents with shared bicycles and electric cars. The Grace offers attractive communal facilities that connect residents, making it a unique place to live.

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Architects
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Collaborators
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Structural engineer, installations consultant and building physics consultant.- Arup, Amsterdam.

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Client
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Movement Real Estate and Van Deursen Group.

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Dates
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2018-2019.

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Location
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The Hague, Netherlands.

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Francine Houben (Holland 1955) began formulating the three fundamentals of her lifelong architectural vision while studying at the Delft University of Technology. It was in this crucible of higher learning that she began an architectural practice with two fellow students with the design of a groundbreaking social housing development. As a result, she graduated as architect with cum laude honours in 1984 and officially founded Mecanoo architecten with these same partners.

Francine has remained true to her architectural vision, Composition, Contrast, Complexity throughout her career. Always looking for inspiration and the secret of a specific location, Francine bases her work on both analyses and intuition. She enjoys interweaving social, technical, playful and humane aspects together in order to form a unique solution to each situation. Francine Houben combines the disciplines of architecture, urban planning and landscape architecture in an untraditional way; with sensitivity for light and beauty.

Her use of material is expressive. She is known as one of the most prolific architects in Europe today. Her wide-ranging portfolio comprises an intimate chapel built on the foundations of a former 19th century chapel in Rotterdam (2001) to Europe’s largest library in Birmingham (2013). Francine Houben’s work reveals a sensory aspect determined by form and space, a lavish use or subtle combinations of the most diverse materials, as well as planes of saturated colour. Francine’s contribution to the profession of architecture is widely recognized. She was granted lifelong membership to the Akademie der Künste, Berlin in 2010.

In 2008, she received the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year Award. Honorary fellowships to the American Institute of Architects and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and an international fellowship to the Royal Institute of British Architects were granted to her in previous years. The past three decades have seen her cumulative effect on the profession of architecture. Francine lectures all over the world and takes part as a jury member in prestigious competitions.

Her commitment to research and education is evidenced in her instatement as professor in Architecture, Chair of Aesthetics of Mobility at the Delft University of Technology (2000), her professorship at the Universitá della Svizzera Italiania, Accademia di architettura, Switzerland (2000) and her appointment as visiting professor at Harvard (2007). Dedication to her alma mater is reflected in generous sponsorship of the UfD-Mecanoo Award for the best graduating student of the Delft University of Technology.

Francine Houben lives in Rotterdam, a modern city where the skyline is dotted with buildings designed by world renowned architects; including her award winning Montevideo Skyscraper (2005). It was in this dynamic city that she directed and curated the First International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (2003), with the theme, ‘Mobility, a room with a view’. She has realised numerous signature projects throughout the Netherlands and Europe including Philips Business Innovation Centre, FiftyTwoDegrees in Nijmegen, (2005-2006), La Llotja Theatre and Conference Centre in Lleida, Spain (2009) and the Delft University of Technology Library (1999). Currently, she is expanding her architectural vision to other continents with the design of Taiwan’s largest theatre complex, The Wei-Wu-Ying Center for the Arts in Kaohsiung (2014), Dudley Municipal Center in Boston (USA) and Shenzhen Cultural Center (China). In 2011 the book Dutch Mountains was released, a chronicle of Francine Houben and eight special projects in five different countries.

Francine maintains an active presence in academia and culture, regularly publishing and giving lectures worldwide. She has performed in many academic and professional capacities throughout her career, including Chair of Architecture and Aesthetics of Mobility at Delft University of Technology, visiting professor at Harvard Graduate School of Design, and as director of the First International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam.

Francine has received honorary fellowships from the Royal Institute of British Architects, the American Institute of Architects and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. In 2014 Francine was named Woman Architect of the Year by the Architects’ Journal and in November 2015 Queen Máxima of The Netherlands presented Francine with the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Prize for her wide-ranging career. Francine was awarded Honorary Doctorates from the Université de Mons, Belgium (2017) and the Utrecht University (2016).

“Architecture must appeal to all the senses. Architecture is never a purely intellectual, conceptual, or visual game alone. Architecture is about combining all the individual elements into a single concept. What counts in the end is the arrangement of form and emotion.”

Francine Houben, architect/creative director Mecanoo Architecten.

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Published on: April 18, 2019
Cite: "The Grace residential towers by Mecanoo architecten" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/grace-residential-towers-mecanoo-architecten> ISSN 1139-6415
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