B30 Governmental Offices, The Hague, The Netherlands


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KAAN Architecten, based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, has recently completed a large-scale re-imagining of a historic governmental building in The Hague.
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In the process, the traditionally austere monument to bureaucracy and hierarchy has been transformed into a modern and inviting working environment.

Kaan1 The 31 million-euro makeover has upheld the character and grandeur of the building but also introduced a distinctly updated mood of vitality and openness. KAAN

The building was originally purpose-created for a Ministry in 1917 by chief government architect Daniel E.C. Knutte, and it is now a Grade 1 listed structure in the Netherlands. kaan4

The B30 office block is located in The Hague city center by the Haagse Bos green space at number 30 Bezuidenhoutseweg, a historical connector way between the Huis ten Bosch Royal Palace and the Dutch Parliament, Het Binnenhof.

The ground floor is now an open and accessible public space that includes a restaurant, a café, a library, and meeting and seminar rooms. Long, open sightlines through the building assist wayfinding and create visual access to the street, woods and side gardens.

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The large atrium is the visual and connectional core of the building and it has a new mosaic ‘garden abstraction’ floor pattern by Dutch visual artist, Rob Birza.

Other striking features are the foyer’s toffee-hued masculine leather seating and the large pivoting glass door partitions that open into the gardens.

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With these and many other well though-out solutions KAAN Architecten has created a functionally and visually revitalized building with an overall sense of lightness and balance that is not easily achieved in a slightly confined 100-year-old office complex.

B30 is home to several governmental units: three independent planning bureaus, the Council for the Environment and Infrastructure, and the Dutch Data Protection Authority. Tuija Seipell.

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