Description of project by OMA
Rijnstraat 8, the renewed government office building housing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers and the Immigration and Naturalistation Service, was officially opened by the Dutch King yesterday. A Public Private Partnership under the name of PoortCentraal, consisting of BAM, ISS and OMA, has renovated and transformed the 90.000 m² building located next to The Hague's central station, giving it a second life as a modern and transparent working space for the Dutch government.
Partner architect of OMA, Ellen van Loon led the transformation project, designing a building that accommodates flexible ways of working which require less office space. The transformation of Rijnstraat 8 is the first large-scale implementation of the Dutch government's new real estate strategy which aims to reduce the real estate owned by the government. The involvement of the private sector is encouraged both in designing, building and financing governmental office space, and maintaining and operating the building’s energy supply, for which it is responsible for the duration of 25 years. Various sustainability measures, such as the application of triple glass in the atria, the use of solar panels, LED lights and implementation of a heat and cold storage, result in a significantly reduced energy consumption. The use of new materials has been minimized: of the 20% of the building that was demolished, 99.7% has been reused.
With the transformation of Rijnstraat 8, a careful balance has been struck between maintaining the strong architectural and sustainability concepts from the original design by Jan Hoogstad from 1993 and renewing the building for future use. The introduction of open plan offices and a new walkway running the entire length of the building improves the sense of direction within the building, and the replacement of solid walls with a glass facade facilitates the connection with the city. The interaction between Rijnstraat 8 and the surrounding city is further enhanced through the creation of a new, enlarged passage that acts as a public square.
Ellen van Loon states: “I have redesigned the former VROM building as a super flexible and sustainable multi-ministry building, which increases the visibility between departments and promotes the interaction between the Ministries and the city life of The Hague through its transparent facade and clearly visible entrances.”
The project was led by Ellen van Loon and project architect Bart Nicolaas. The design has been established in cooperation with Ector Hoogstad Architecten, Wessel de Jonge Architecten, DGMR, ARUP, BAM Advies & Engineering and Valstar Simonis.
The transformation of Rijnstraat 8 marks the beginning of a new series engagements of OMA in political capital The Hague, where Ellen van Loon is the lead architect for the renovation of the Second House of Parliament.
Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is an international practice operating within the traditional boundaries of architecture and urbanism. AMO, a research and design studio, applies architectural thinking to domains beyond. OMA is led by eight partners – Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf, Ellen van Loon, Shohei Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, Chris van Duijn, Jason Long, and Managing Partner-Architect David Gianotten – and maintains offices in Rotterdam, New York, Hong Kong, Doha, and Australia. OMA-designed buildings currently under construction are the renovation of Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) in Berlin, The Factory in Manchester, Hangzhou Prism, the CMG Times Center in Shenzhen and the Simone Veil Bridge in Bordeaux.
OMA’s completed projects include Taipei Performing Arts Centre (2022), Audrey Irmas Pavilion in Los Angeles (2020), Norra Tornen in Stockholm (2020), Axel Springer Campus in Berlin (2020), MEETT Toulouse Exhibition and Convention Centre (2020), Galleria in Gwanggyo (2020), WA Museum Boola Bardip (2020), nhow RAI Hotel in Amsterdam (2020), a new building for Brighton College (2020), and Potato Head Studios in Bali (2020). Earlier buildings include Fondazione Prada in Milan (2018), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow (2015), De Rotterdam (2013), CCTV Headquarters in Beijing (2012), Casa da Música in Porto (2005), and the Seattle Central Library (2004).
AMO often works in parallel with OMA's clients to fertilize architecture with intelligence from this array of disciplines. This is the case with Prada: AMO's research into identity, in-store technology, and new possibilities of content-production in fashion helped generate OMA's architectural designs for new Prada epicenter stores in New York and Los Angeles. In 2004, AMO was commissioned by the European Union to study its visual communication, and designed a colored "barcode" flag, combining the flags of all member states, which was used during the Austrian presidency of the EU. AMO has worked with Universal Studios, Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Heineken, Ikea, Condé Nast, Harvard University and the Hermitage. It has produced Countryside: The Future, a research exhibited at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York; exhibitions at the Venice Architecture Biennale, including Public Works (2012), Cronocaos (2010), and The Gulf (2006); and for Fondazione Prada, including When Attitudes Become Form (2012) and Serial and Portable Classics (2015). AMO, with Harvard University, was responsible for the research and curation of the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale and its publication Elements. Other notable projects are Roadmap 2050, a plan for a Europe-wide renewable energy grid; Project Japan, a 720-page book on the Metabolism architecture movement (Taschen, 2010); and the educational program of Strelka Institute in Moscow.
Ellen van Loonjoined OMA in 1998 and became Partner in 2002. She has led award-winning building projects that combine sophisticated design with precise execution. Recently completed projects led by Ellen include the shop-in-shops for Jacquemus at Galeries Lafayette and Selfridges (2022), the temporary showroom in Doha and store on Avenue de Montaigne in Paris for Tiffany & Co. (2022-23), Monumental Wonders exhibition for SolidNature in Milan (2022). Bvlgari Fine Jewelry Show (2021), Brighton College (2020), BLOX / DAC in Copenhagen (2018), Rijnstraat 8 in The Hague (2017), and Lab City CentraleSupélec (2017). Other projects in her portfolio include Fondation Galeries Lafayette (2018) in Paris; Qatar National Library (2017); Amsterdam’s G-Star Raw Headquarters (2014); De Rotterdam, the largest building in the Netherlands (2013); CCTV Headquarters in Beijing (2012); New Court Rothschild Bank in London (2011); Maggie’s Centre in Glasgow (2011); Casa da Musica in Porto (2005) – winner of the 2007 RIBA Award; and the Dutch Embassy in Berlin (2003) – winner of the European Union Mies van der Rohe Award in 2005. Ellen is currently working on The Factory Manchester – a large performing arts venue for the city; the renovation of Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) Berlin – Europe’s biggest department store – and the design of Lamarr, a new department store in Vienna; and the Palais de Justice de Lille.
