Pieter Baan Centre: security an integral part of architecture
Security must be integrated into a building design, just like sustainability, for example.
At least, that is the shared vision of Mactwin and Jeroen Steenvoorden and Jeroen Spee of studio PROTOTYPE.
A good example of this is the entrance building of the new Pieter Baan Centre in Almere.
In this case, the architects explain how they came up with a beautiful, sustainable and safe design. The two young architects, who graduated together in Delft, founded studio PROTOTYPE at the end of 2008.
The agency now has about 12 employees.
The architects strongly believe in the power of integrated design and the deployment of a multidisciplinary team.
As usual, the design assignment for the entrance building was subject to a framework of unique preconditions.
In this case, emphatically also in the field of security.
Studio PROTOTYPE then called in the external expertise of Mactwin.
The entrance building gives visitors, such as lawyers and family members of ‘observandi’ access to the Pieter Baan Centre.
The entrance will be separate from the new construction of the Pieter Baan Centre, but will be part of the urban development unit of the Oostvaarderskliniek.
Jeroen Steenvoorden: “We have designed a functional and safe building that fits well within this urban unit. The building we designed is light and gives the impression of openness.”
The latter seems to be at odds with the desired high level of security, but the opposite is true.
“Security is an integral part of the design. Visitors hardly notice that they are in a high-security environment. We wanted to soften the experience of the visitors – such as family members. Due to the openness and the abundance of light in the design, visitors can move quietly and comfortably to the actual Pieter Baan Centre and go almost imperceptibly from an open to a more secure and ultimately to a high secure environment.”
Jeroen Steenvoorden: “We have designed a functional and safe building that fits well within this urban unit. The building we designed is light and gives the impression of openness.” The latter seems to be at odds with the desired high level of security, but the opposite is true. “Security is an integral part of the design. Visitors hardly notice that they are in a high-security environment. We wanted to soften the experience of the visitors – such as family members. Due to the openness and the abundance of light in the design, visitors can move quietly and comfortably to the actual Pieter Baan Centre and go almost imperceptibly from an open to a more secure and ultimately to a high secure environment.” If security is such a high priority, then in our opinion you should already include that in the design. If you don’t do that, all kinds of things will have to be added at a later stage that either don’t fit well into the design or are not optimally functional.”