When the small town of Ijsselstein expressed the need for a new building that combined the civic role of a town hall with the cultural dimension of a small theatre, they commissioned UN studio to produce a solution. This new building would represent an important embodiment of municipal self esteem through its public spaces and functions.

:: contemporary precedents

Main frontage overlooks a new public square. The building’s different functions are indentified by changing rhythms in the diaphanous glass skin.

Translucent green glass cladding helps to dematerialize the building mass.

from: unstudio.com and ‘Architecture Review’, p.83

The project takes it configuration from a Chinese ideogram and transforms it in order to fit the site and conform to the program. The project combines the functions of town hall, theatre and grand café on a location in the shape of a kite. Situated on the main street of the former old town centre both theatre and town hall needed to have a presence, and preferably their main entrances, on this constricted front, as both fulfill signature public functions. This predicament originated the intricately interwoven complex.

buiding form resulted in manipulation of Chinese ideogram

from: unstudio.com

Openness is achieved by extending the sight lines from the town centre deep into the building. From the street, one gains a view of the inner courtyard, along which the administrative offices are housed. Apart from sharing a communal entrance, the spaces of the town hall and the cultural centre are separate. The spatial division of the two functions is achieved by the ramp dividing the two.

1 cranked volumes enclose a series of internal courtyards.
2 a public route runs under the elevated part of the building, linking the square to the town center.
3 womb-like theatre with its sensuous red walls...
4 ...in contrast with calm, dignified austerity of other parts of interior