Stakeholders

Function : Contractor

Municipality of Venlo

Function : Designer

Kraaijvanger Architects
[email protected]

Owner approach of sustainability

The project incorporates several strategies to guarantee sustainability: the heavily polluted air from the adjacent road is cleaned by the building and cooled down with the help of the Maas River and the underground car park; the offices and glass house generate heat for the surrounding homes by implementation of a geothermal heat pump; rain water will be collected and used, then cleaned and released into the Maas. The building will be mainly constructed out of wood

Architectural description

The brief for the new City Hall presented a unique challenge in the form of stringent sustainability requirements set by Venlo municipality, which is the first region in the world to seek full implementation of the Cradle-to-Cradle principles. This resulted in an unique design process and an extraordinary (visionary) building that combines a comfortable working environment with sustainable innovations.

Energy consumption

• Primary energy need : 1,00 kWhpe/m².year
• Primary energy need for standard building : 23,00 kWhpe/m².year

Calculation method : Other

Envelope performance

• Envelope U-Value : 0,10 W.m^-2.K^-1

Systems

Heating system :
• Heat pump
• Solar thermal
Hot water system :
• Solar Thermal
Cooling system :
• Water chiller
• Geothermal heat pump
Ventilation system :
• Natural ventilation
Renewable systems :
• Solar Thermal
• Heat pump
• Renewable energy production : 75,00 %

Product

Air Purifying Green Facade
Kraaijvanger Architects, TU Eindhoven, Royal HaskoningDHV, Venlo City, C2C Expolab, BBN , Laudy Bouw, Mostert De Winter
Hans Goverde, Kraaijvanger Architects, [email protected]

Product category : Structural work / Structure - Masonry - Facade

The green facade and the trees purify the air from the road and railway line alongside the building. More than 100 varieties of flora & fauna contributes to the wellbeing of the employees, combat heat stress and form part of the insulation layer, but most of all they reduce 30% of the SO2 and NOx in the filtered air. The facade filters out the particulate matter produced by 3000 m² of roads and makes the surrounding air cleaner in general.

The city of Venlo established the ambition to create this green facade but needed measurable result before committing to the project. The stakeholders set out with The Eindhoven University of Technology and Royal HaskoningDHV to create a test set-up as proof of concept. This proved a considerable reduction of SO2, NOx and particulate matter, enough for the city to greenlight the project.

Holtz100 wooden inner leaf cavity wall
Thoma
Erwin Thoma, [email protected]

Product category : Structural work / Structure - Masonry - Facade

The inner leaf of the cavity wall is made by the Thoma Company from Austria. Their Holtz100 system creates a non-glued solid wood shell on the interior of the Venlo City Hall.

The absence of glues and other chemicals makes the inner leafs completely Cradle to Cradle. In case of a future internal refurbishing all the wood can be disassembled and up-cycled into new and useful products.

Urban environment

The lay out of the building is efficient and includes offices, a plaza, a public hall with exhibition spaces, meeting rooms and an underground parking.

Parking spaces

450 underground parking spaces for visitors and employees

Building Environmental Quality