Municipal Offices and Train Station, Delft

Architects: Mecanoo
Text: Edit Pálinkás
Photos: Harry Cock, Mecanoo

Six years after the original announcement of the project, the first phase of Mecanoo’s new Train Station and City Hall complex in Delft, has been opened to the public. The station, in combination with municipal offices and the new city hall, sits atop a new train tunnel built in place of the old concrete viaduct that divided the city in two since 1965. The new building now connects the historic inner city on the east side of the railway tunnel with the residential neighbourhoods located to the west, realigning the centre of Delft.
Coming up the escalators, the vaulted ceiling features an enormous historic 1877 map of Delft and its surroundings. Within the station hall, walls and columns are adorned with a contemporary re-interpretation of Delft Blue tiles. When you look outside, you see the city and the old station as a contemporary version of Johannes Vermeer’s painting ‘View of Delft’. The combination and rhythm of open panels of high performance glass and closed fused glass panels enable a high degree of energy efficiency. Incisions in the glass volume of the municipal office building, which will not be complete until 2017, form a pattern of alleyways and courtyards, which are themselves inspired by the intricate structure of Delft.

Architecture: Mecanoo
Structural engineer: ABT BV
Mechanical engineer: Deerns Raadgevende Ingenieurs BV Building
Building physics and fire safety consultant: LBPSight
Consultant graphics ceiling: Geerdes Ontwerpen
Cost consultant: Basalt Bouwadvies BV
Client: Ontwikkelingsbedrijf Spoorzone Delft BV