Project office Velox contributes to unique and sustainable cultural palace in The Hague

Four halls will be built for dance performances, concerts and performing arts. Amare will be occupied by the Zuiderstrandtheather, Residentie Orkest, Nederlands Dans Theater and Royal Conservatory of Music.

The name is derived from the Latin verb amare (to love) and the Italian a mare (by the sea). During development, this project was called Education and Culture Cluster (OCC) by the Municipality of The Hague.

7 storeys

Construction of Amare on The Hague's Spuiplein officially began June 1, 2007. Alderman Joris Wijsmuller (Culture) performed the start. He did so together with Mayor Pauline Krikke, the directors of the cultural institutions and building consortium Cadanz. The cultural complex has seven floors and is to be awarded the BREEAM-NL Excellent sustainability certificate.

Layout and amenities

When visitors step into the building they are already going to experience the dynamics of culture. The theater auditorium is located directly behind the foyer and seats 1,300. The large stage hosts dance, cabaret, operas, musicals and theater performances. Huge sets can be built, because the backstage is large.

On the second floor is the concert hall. This offers space for 1,500 visitors. The Residentie Orkest, other major orchestras and musicians will perform there. The studios of Dutch Dance Theater are on the second floor. Meter-high windows and a wall of mirrors make those spaces very light. On the 3^e floor is the rehearsal hall which, with a retractable grandstand, has room for 200 people.

Education and entertainment in one place

The conservatory can be found from the fourth floor. And on that same floor is Amare's fourth hall, the ensemble hall. It hosts teaching during the day and some 300 concerts a year in the evening for 600 spectators each night. Floors 4, 5 and 6 will accommodate about 1,000 conservatory students and 200 school students. They will be trained as musicians or dancers in Amare.

Sustainability

Amare has a high sustainability ambition and should be BREEAM-NL Excellent certified. However, it is not standard to certify a building with theater functions BREEAM. Therefore, a so-called bespoke process is being followed. This has been set up together with the Dutch Green Building Council (DGBC), the administrator of BREEAM-NL. This therefore involves a customized assessment guideline for Amare.

In order to qualify for the certificate, careful thought was given to energy and water consumption, materialization, user well-being and the environment, among other things. Specifically, at Amare you can think about the installed LED lighting, solar panels (+/- 4,000 m2), cold storage in the soil and rainwater for flushing the toilets.

Parties involved

The building was designed according to the latest acoustic insights by architects JCAU and NOAHH. The client is the municipality of The Hague. The main contractors are Boele & van Eesteren and Visser & Smit Bouw (together construction combination Cadanz). And the electrical and mechanical installations were realized by HOMIJ.

Also Velox-colleague Martijn de Bruijn is contributing to this project. He does this with his knowledge and skills in the field of installation technology in which he has been working for years. He started as an assistant technician when he was 16 years old and has since progressed to become a quality controller and supervisor. On this project, he therefore assesses the installations for quality and safety. De Bruijn, who took a break from his chores at home for this interview, takes us along and talks enthusiastically about the new cultural complex.

Four buildings under one shell

''Some special elements of the building are the acoustic separations and dilatations. But especially the way of construction is special. The approach whereby such high demands are made in terms of acoustics is only seen in a few buildings in the Netherlands.

''In addition, the four halls have their own foundations. Therefore, they are actually four buildings under one shell. And these buildings must be able to be used simultaneously without the users being disturbed by each other. Think of noise, but also vibrations. For example, it must be possible for the building owner to hold a concert, have artists rehearse and host a theater performance at the same time. Also, the other facilities must be able to be used at the same time, such as the recording studios and teaching environments.''

Ducts and pipes move with the building

''Through all the halls there is climate control through ductwork, piping and so on. It is just not the intention that vibrations are transferred from one room to another. On every dilatation that is both an acoustic decoupling, we therefore installed flexible sliding brackets. If the building moves, the ducts and pipes must also be able to move with it. That way you prevent the vibrations.''

''So to counter vibration and voice transmission there are flexible joints between the ducts, there are special penetrations in the walls that are sealed, and extra layers of plaster have to be placed around the rosettes. Those things are really very important. Perhaps most important, especially for me as a safety and quality supervisor to pay attention to. So the noise and vibration displacement requirements on this project I have not seen before. This is quite unique in our country.''