On Saturday 28th February 2015, the Delft’s new railway station designed by Francine Houben from Mecanoo, was officially opened to the public. The entire City Hall and station complex will open in 2017.

Months ago we showed it, as a scoop in METALOCUS, the works near completion, commented by Francine Houben showing the project and explaining the ideas behind the design. “When you arrive at the station, you really experience arriving in Delft,” she says. For instance, the columns and walls are cladded in a reinterpretation of Delft blue, a hand crafted pattern of broken tiles in four shades ranging from dark blue to white.

One of the most eye-catching features is the large vaulted ceiling which shows a map of Delft as it was in 1877. Created together with Geerdes Ontwerpen, the map has been printed on 1929 straight and bended lamellae. Therefore, the visitors’ perception of the image changes continuously as they move through the building, creating a stunning welcoming experience.

Description of the project by Mecanoo

The station hall and municipal offices form a new landmark in Delft. The complex is located above a new underground train station, with the municipal offices accommodating one thousand employees. When the station is operational, the old railway viaduct that divided the inner city of Delft will make way for an extension of the city centre, a park and canal.

Designed without an apparent front or rear, the glass building is compact and flexible. Incisions in the glass volume echo the networked structure of laneways in the historic city and admit daylight deep into the building. Lowering the roof line at the corners reduces the building height to enable a gradual transition to the surrounding buildings.

The use of clear glass at ground level facilitates a close connection between inside and outside. Here, the public zone with the station hall and public lobby is differentiated from the private section with the municipal offices made from transparent and molten glass elements.

A ceiling of curved white horizontal strips adorned with a historic city map in (Delft) blue arches above the public lobby and station hall (in collaboration with Geerdes Ontwerpen). The halls are separated by a glass wall and two volumes that house the public counters, consultation rooms and technical services of the municipal offices, and the commercial functions of the station hall.

The facilities are organised so that travellers can immediately glimpse the historic city from the station hall. Measures including a geothermal heat pump and an optimal facade design featuring highly insulated glazing enable a 35% reduction in energy use from prescribed requirements.

The building accommodates solar panels on the roof that can generate a minimum of 20% of the building’s energy needs.

Text.- Mecanoo.

CREDITS. DATA SHEET.-

Size.- 28,320
Status.- Ongoing 2012 - 2017.
Address.- Stationsplein, Delft, the Netherlands.
Client.- Ontwikkelingsbedrijf Spoorzone; ProRail; Gemeente Delft.

Programme.- Municipal offices with 19,430 m² of offices around internal patios, a bicycle shed, an archive, a loading and unloading area and a public lobby of 2,500 m². The public lobby is visually and physically linked to the station hall of 2,450 m² and has a ticket office and 850 m² of retail facilities and food and beverage.

Awards.- European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies GREEN GOOD DESIGN Award 2010.

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Francine Houben (Holland 1955) began formulating the three fundamentals of her lifelong architectural vision while studying at the Delft University of Technology. It was in this crucible of higher learning that she began an architectural practice with two fellow students with the design of a groundbreaking social housing development. As a result, she graduated as architect with cum laude honours in 1984 and officially founded Mecanoo architecten with these same partners.

Francine has remained true to her architectural vision, Composition, Contrast, Complexity throughout her career. Always looking for inspiration and the secret of a specific location, Francine bases her work on both analyses and intuition. She enjoys interweaving social, technical, playful and humane aspects together in order to form a unique solution to each situation. Francine Houben combines the disciplines of architecture, urban planning and landscape architecture in an untraditional way; with sensitivity for light and beauty.

Her use of material is expressive. She is known as one of the most prolific architects in Europe today. Her wide-ranging portfolio comprises an intimate chapel built on the foundations of a former 19th century chapel in Rotterdam (2001) to Europe’s largest library in Birmingham (2013). Francine Houben’s work reveals a sensory aspect determined by form and space, a lavish use or subtle combinations of the most diverse materials, as well as planes of saturated colour. Francine’s contribution to the profession of architecture is widely recognized. She was granted lifelong membership to the Akademie der Künste, Berlin in 2010.

In 2008, she received the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year Award. Honorary fellowships to the American Institute of Architects and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and an international fellowship to the Royal Institute of British Architects were granted to her in previous years. The past three decades have seen her cumulative effect on the profession of architecture. Francine lectures all over the world and takes part as a jury member in prestigious competitions.

Her commitment to research and education is evidenced in her instatement as professor in Architecture, Chair of Aesthetics of Mobility at the Delft University of Technology (2000), her professorship at the Universitá della Svizzera Italiania, Accademia di architettura, Switzerland (2000) and her appointment as visiting professor at Harvard (2007). Dedication to her alma mater is reflected in generous sponsorship of the UfD-Mecanoo Award for the best graduating student of the Delft University of Technology.

Francine Houben lives in Rotterdam, a modern city where the skyline is dotted with buildings designed by world renowned architects; including her award winning Montevideo Skyscraper (2005). It was in this dynamic city that she directed and curated the First International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (2003), with the theme, ‘Mobility, a room with a view’. She has realised numerous signature projects throughout the Netherlands and Europe including Philips Business Innovation Centre, FiftyTwoDegrees in Nijmegen, (2005-2006), La Llotja Theatre and Conference Centre in Lleida, Spain (2009) and the Delft University of Technology Library (1999). Currently, she is expanding her architectural vision to other continents with the design of Taiwan’s largest theatre complex, The Wei-Wu-Ying Center for the Arts in Kaohsiung (2014), Dudley Municipal Center in Boston (USA) and Shenzhen Cultural Center (China). In 2011 the book Dutch Mountains was released, a chronicle of Francine Houben and eight special projects in five different countries.

Francine maintains an active presence in academia and culture, regularly publishing and giving lectures worldwide. She has performed in many academic and professional capacities throughout her career, including Chair of Architecture and Aesthetics of Mobility at Delft University of Technology, visiting professor at Harvard Graduate School of Design, and as director of the First International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam.

Francine has received honorary fellowships from the Royal Institute of British Architects, the American Institute of Architects and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. In 2014 Francine was named Woman Architect of the Year by the Architects’ Journal and in November 2015 Queen Máxima of The Netherlands presented Francine with the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Prize for her wide-ranging career. Francine was awarded Honorary Doctorates from the Université de Mons, Belgium (2017) and the Utrecht University (2016).

“Architecture must appeal to all the senses. Architecture is never a purely intellectual, conceptual, or visual game alone. Architecture is about combining all the individual elements into a single concept. What counts in the end is the arrangement of form and emotion.”

Francine Houben, architect/creative director Mecanoo Architecten.

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Published on: March 2, 2015
Cite: "Opening Delft's Municipal Offices and Train Station by Mecanoo" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/opening-delfts-municipal-offices-and-train-station-mecanoo> ISSN 1139-6415
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