City Hall Extension

The City Hall Extension
Enric Miralles
Utrecht, The Netherlands

For over 650 years, the city administration for Utrecht was housed downtown in a confusing maze of small medieval buildings and city castles. In 1997, the city commissioned Enric Miralles of Barcelona to design a new building that would combine all of the existing elements of the administrative core with a new, modern wing. Miralles goal for this building was to create an inviting space that would essentially put the work of the city’s administrators on display to the residents.

The façade of the extension is a multi-dimensional skin that combines windows and passages to create views into and out of the building. With the new extension, Miralles also moved the existing entrance of the building to the back, thus creating a new public square. By combining new steel and glass materials with old stonework, Miralles created juxtaposition between past and modern resources. Additionally, the curves of the pipes as part of the water feature lend movement and an element of nature to the project.

Sara Anrrich