The total area of the complex, which united all the previously disparate departments and services of the Deventer City Hall next to the old Town Hall, is about 24,000 m2. Of these, 19,500 m2 are new construction, and 4,500 m2 are reconstructed buildings. The project is embedded in the fabric of the medieval city, occupying, as it were, the place left for it by historical buildings. The entire complex layout is built around an open courtyard and a covered public square. At the level of the second floor, a separate route runs through them, providing fast and efficient communication between employees of different departments. On the lower level, spaces are accessible to all citizens: they create new pedestrian connections, connecting important city streets, squares, parklands and the IJssel River embankment.
On the streets of the city, the building looks through the fragments of the facades, filigree inscribed in the historical building line. These facades are of two types: non-uniform in color brickwork with simple platbands and an oak lattice structure, the cells of which are covered with aluminum plates. This decor is also present in the interior decoration, allowing the various public spaces to interpenetrate seamlessly. In addition to the golden color of oak details and thin, shiny plates, the architects boldly used tough modern materials in the interior decoration. As a result, warm wood and almost rocaille patterns contrast with exposed concrete structures and natural stone slabs on the floor.
Created by local artist Lus ten Anscher, the whimsical drawing of aluminum plates is in fact 2264 unique fingerprints of real townspeople, which are thus visibly and constantly present in all the premises of the city administration. The image is more than transparent.
Deventer's City Hall is billed as one of the most sustainable public buildings in the country. The project has indeed received an international BREEAM Excellent certificate and a high rating according to the Dutch GPR qualification system. Maximum sunshine, protection of premises from overheating, collection of rainwater and the use of river water for heating and cooling, access of fresh air through special openings and grilles in the floor and on the windows and exhaust through the ceiling of the atrium, as well as the installation of an additional thermoactive system that increased the heat capacity of concrete structures, made it possible to increase the resource efficiency of the complex by 25%.
