Hilversum city hall, Netherlands, is one of the first political buildings that explored modern forms, but through its abstraction and symbolism still retained the symbolic of government building. In Lewis Mumford’s words, this is the building in which “nature, art and man form an organic unit”. At the same time it is a work that serves the public interest and does not indulge the personal whims of the architect. Interesting spatial organization, hierarchy, clear statement and employment of elements of nature and water make this building an important precedent in innovative approaches to the design of political buildings.
general view of Hilversum city hall and its interior spaces
The building arises in the midst of comparatively extensive grounds; the architectural aspect is continued in a monumental garden; the building reveals in its free site and its surrounding the characteristic of this community as garden-city. Before the most representative façade is a lake; the building rises out of the water. The building consists of the two parts on either side of the main approach; to the left arises the main building and to the right is lower collection of buildings together enclosing inner courtyard. All the public offices have been arranged along the simple system of passages around the inner court. The front of the main building contains the representative apartments such as the mayor office and council chamber. The council chamber expresses itself in the front façade by three high windows.
The building arises in the midst of comparatively extensive grounds; the architectural aspect is continued in a monumental garden; the building reveals in its free site and its surrounding the characteristic of this community as garden-city. Before the most representative façade is a lake; the building rises out of the water. The building consists of the two parts on either side of the main approach; to the left arises the main building and to the right is lower collection of buildings together enclosing inner courtyard. All the public offices have been arranged along the simple system of passages around the inner court. The front of the main building contains the representative apartments such as the mayor office and council chamber. The council chamber expresses itself in the front façade by three high windows.
This modern town hall has dual function. On one hand it serves as the main administrative center, the point from which the town is governed. On the other hand it houses efficient office-building to house the varied requirements of the many technical services necessary to contemporary town organization. In the Hilversum city hall, Dudok provided both functions without damaging the architectural unity of the whole.
Dudok, Willem Marinus. Willem M. Dudok. Amsterdam : G. van Saane. 1954.