Delightful Den Haag.

[Troyeth]

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© October, 2008

[ablarc]

Modern regionalism. Very nice:

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What can you tell us about this?

[Troyeth]

Not much, to be truthful, save for that it is masterfully urban.

Here is an a brief English article that vaguely details that project:

A Series of Major Projects Gives The Hague an Upgrade (http://home.tiscali.nl/t755047/DenHaag.html)

It's the seat of the Dutch government, a royal residence, a major center of international diplomacy, and home to 445,000 people, but compared to nearby Amsterdam and Rotterdam, The Hague has long had a reputation as a provincial backwater. The $2.5 billion "Den Haag Nieuw Centrum" (The Hague New Center) project is supposed to change that, giving The Hague big city allure to match its importance in Dutch and international politics, and attracting business back to the city center from the suburbs.


Project manager Willem van de Ven also sees it as an opportunity to upgrade the transportation infrastructure and "to repair the city in areas where nothing has happened in the last 10 or 20 years, or where the wrong things happened." Three buildings, for example, have already been built above a freeway that slices through the city center, at least two more are planned, and a portion of a six-lane viaduct dead-ending at a congested intersection has been demolished. The project brings together the most prestigious collection of architects ever assembled in the Netherlands, and when completed in 2 years' time, it will encompass more than 8.5 million square feet of office space, 850,000 square feet of retail space, hundreds of residential units, and new public spaces.

At its core is the $175 million gleaming white civic center, designed by Richard Meier and opened in 1995. Now rising up between the Central Station and Meier's town hall is De Resident, a $250 million complex of offices, government buildings, retails shops, and residences. The first two pieces, American Michael Graves' "Castalia", and Dutchman Sjoerd Soeters' "Helicon", were unveiled in July. Beginning in October, the two buildings will serve as headquarters for the Ministry of Health.


The steeply sloping roofs of Castalia's twin 340-foot red-brick towers recall, albeit on a completely different scale, traditional Dutch houses, while Helicon's three identical, 187-foot terraced red-brick blocks pay quiet homage to New York art deco. Just a few feet from Castalia, Cesar Pelli's hexagonal 289-foot Zurich tower is now taking shape, capped by a distinctive cupola. Among other architects involved in De Resident are Austrian Rob Krier, Italian Adolfo Natalini, Spaniard Joan Busquets, and Dutch architects Gunnar Daan, Thon Karelse, Bert Dirrix, Peter Drijver, Richard Koek, and Frank Cardinaal. Additional elements of Den Haag Nieuw Centrum include several renovations of historic buildings, a number of high rise office towers, a tram tunnel, an auto tunnel, and an underground parking garage.

Reprinted from Architectural Record, October, 1998

[Zephyr]

Den Haag / The Hague

"Men moet huilen met de wolven in het bos," goes the proverb. The expression must be observed in South Africa, unfortunately, but has a very different meaning in this city, almost like a paradox.

I must admit to finding this place a joy to explore.

The architecture can be hard to view properly in some areas due to the density and narrow paths - at least that was how I remembered it.

Thanks for those lovely photos.