Architects:Rapp+Rapp

Area :50000 m²

Year :2011

Photographs :Kim Zwarts

Lead Architect :Christian Rapp

Structural engineer :Corsmit Raadgevend Ingenieursbureau

Services engineer :Arison

Building Contractor :Bouwcombinatie Wijnhaven Den Haag v.o.f.

Responsible Partner : Harrie van der Meijs

Project Leader : Krijn Geevers

Project Team : Christina Behrendt, Gideon Peele

Client : C.V. Wijnhavenkwartier

City : The Hague

Country : The Netherlands

In The Hague’s Wijnhavenkwartier, situated between Central Station and the Spui, next to the new Ministries of Foreign Affairs, on the spot wherein 2007 the Zwarte Madonna residential building was torn down, stand De Kroon, a 131m high rise residential tower including office- and commercial space. The area is bounded on three sides by important traffic arteries: the Turfmarkt, an important pedestrian precinct from Central Station to the center of The Hague, the Schedeldoekshaven, an important traffic connection for cars, busses and trams and the Lage Zand also a tramline. The basic principles of the building design are based on the plot settings of the early American skyscrapers. An important reference for the building was the early high-rise typology of the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century in Chicago.

The office- and residential buildings are located next to each other on a commercial plinth. The 23m high office building, organized around an atrium hall, stretches continuously from Turfmakrt to Schedeldoekshaven. Adjoining on to it arises the residential tower covering 253 apartments: almost exclusively corner apartments, accessible by an interior corridor. The setbacks of the tower fit in with the height of the adjoining buildings and guarantee sufficient daylight on street level. Likewise, the ultimate setback marks the switch from social housing to upper private property housing.