Royal Netherlands Navy officers' quarters

The high-rise complex of the Royal Netherlands Navy officers' quarters in Den Helder, a project designed by Van Herk & de Kleijn Architecten b.v. in Amsterdam, is actually composed of three structures forming a single edifice united visually by the overlapping and virtually interconnected surfaces of the external façade. The interior of the building is illuminated by natural light entering from three directions. The entrance area and the corridors leading to the 157 rooms create a pleasantly homogeneous communal space by virtue of the masterful combination of incident light and spatial design. The project requirements for the external cladding specified lightweight, maintenance free construction, while the high wind velocities experienced at the site also had to be taken into consideration. The dynamic nature of the coastal environment made the choice of TECU® Classic brand copper panels for cladding the façade a natural one. The result counterbalances the surrounding buildings with their primarily grey façades in a contrasting yet harmonic way and is one which will come to exude its own vitality as weathering slowly changes the color of its copper surface. The rounded corners and inwardly folded edges of the copper cladding create a fascinating interplay of light and shade. A major design element is the visual replication of the façade design within the internal areas, with fragmentary glimpses of the outer shell through the windows.