In Delft, according to the results of the voting of residents in the competition for the project of the station combined with the town hall hall, the variant of the workshop of Francine Hüben was recognized as the best.
Its construction should become a "prologue" for the revival of the entire adjacent area of the city. Mecanoo suggested that the façade of the new building be decorated with panels of fused glass, which should make it look like a crystal. The interior spaces of both the station and the town hall will resemble a cave with stalactite supports. Construction should begin in 2010 and be completed by 2014.
At the same time, the Dutch Open-Air Museum (Openluchtmuseum) in Arnhem announced the construction of a National Historical Museum of the Netherlands next to its territory.
The main idea of the Mecanoo bureau was to create a "tower of eras", each of the tiers of which would be dedicated to a different era in the history of the country, starting with its conquest by the Romans. In total, the building will have six ring-shaped floors located around a central cone-shaped space covered with a glass dome. The walls of the museum will be faced with clinker bricks. Its opening is scheduled for spring 2011.
