The Cultural Center De Bussel, which houses a theater, library and tourist center, has reopened after extensive renovation in Osterhout. In a small town in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant, the theater has been successfully operating since the mid-1980s. A detached building of the city library adjoined the theater. In 2011, the city authorities decided that neither the old theater nor the library was up to date. Then it was decided to reconstruct the existing buildings in order to create a new center for urban activity.
Two bureaus were involved in the reconstruction project at once - the DP6 architectural studio from Delft and the 3TO architecten company from The Hague. The location in the historical part of the city along Torenstraat Street, surrounded by architectural monuments, determined the direction of the project's development. The architects proposed to preserve the functional content of the buildings, but at the same time to combine them with the help of a multi-lighted lobby and a common entrance from the Torenstraat side. The lobby serves as a public space with seating areas and small cafes. To the left of the entrance is a theater with a main stage and a small auditorium for 200 seats, to the right is a renovated library. In addition, the building houses a tourist center, a café-reading room, offices and a media corner.
Outside, in place of the scattered ends, a single, extended modern facade appeared, forming the front of the street. Most of it is glazed. The glass sheet is diluted with the horizontal lines of the balcony and the visor, as well as wavy vertical inserts. The latter are like a theater curtain or curtains on the windows - movable and soft, which, it seems, can be easily drawn if desired. Surprisingly, this effect is achieved when using a hard material - Hagemeister clinker bricks.
For the exterior of the cultural center, an elongated Gent BU + FU clinker brick with a thickness of only 40 mm was used. Only from such a brick could it be possible to create such realistic and smooth waves on the facades. The clinker masonry exactly followed the lines poured out of concrete. Special shaped bricks were used at the joints and corners.
As for the color scheme of the building, it is dictated by the environment. In the paving of the street, in the decoration of historical buildings adjacent to the theater, natural earthy shades dominate everywhere. That is why it was decided to use ocher-colored brick for facing the facades of the cultural center. Thanks to this, the new complex is perceived as part of the historical ensemble of the basilica and the square in front of it. At the same time, the architects combine several shades and textures - smooth yellow-orange clinker with rough dark red brick, which makes the facades seem even more active and alive.
An interesting solution was the introduction of front bricks into the interior. In the lobby, it has been used to decorate the stairs leading to the second floor and balconies. Part of the street character of the lobby space is also given by steel columns in the form of trees, whose "crowns" hold the high ceiling. Columns-"trees" serve as some symbolic reminder of the park that once existed on the site of the theater.
About the project:
Architects: DP6 architecture studio (Delft) and 3TO architecten (The Hague)
Client: Osterhout, Brabant
Clinker: sorting Gent BU + FU, Klinkerriemchen (290mm x 23mm x 40mm)
Clinker façade area: 7643 m2
