Hilversum – zielone wnętrze mediów

Patrycja Haupt

doi:10.5277/arc120213

Streszczenie

Hilversum znane jest głównie jako holenderska stolica przemysłu radiofonicznego i telewizyjnego. Zlokalizowano tam siedziby, studia oraz archiwa kilkunastu stacji – państwowych i komercyjnych, a co warto podkreślić – w sposób nienaruszający tożsamości miasta oraz jego szczególnego, willowego charakteru. Stało się to możliwe dzięki usytuowaniu budynków powiązanych z techniką radiowo-telewizyjną na terenie o charakterze parkowym wyznaczonym w północnej części miasta. Budowle powstałe w poszanowaniu istniejącego krajobrazu wpisano w naturalną topografię i roślinność terenu. Dzięki ograniczeniom gabarytowym, a także właściwemu dla współczesnej architektury holenderskiej poszanowaniu środowiska, dzięki stosowaniu rozwiązań zrównoważonych w projektowaniu, udało się nadać nawet dużym obiektom kubaturowym charakter nawiązujący do XIX-wiecznej tkanki miasta. Budynki na terenie Parku Mediów jako zespół stanowią całość wpisującą się w pejzaż otaczającego je miasta. Niemniej jednak każdy z nich prezentuje swój własny, unikalny charakter widoczny w kształcie bryły, kompozycji elewacji, a także sposobu interakcji z otoczeniem. Każda z budowli stanowi indywidualną odpowiedź twórcy na problem połączenia w jednej strukturze cech charakterystycznych dla stylistyki mediów ery popkultury, przy równoczesnym zachowaniu harmonii z otoczeniem właściwej dla współczesnych trendów projektowania zrównoważonego. Architektura powstała zgodnie z takimi założeniami jest próbą stworzenia znaku przestrzennego – ikony dla reprezentowanej w ten sposób firmy – równocześnie współgrając z terenem, współtworząc miejski krajobraz współczesnego Hilversum. Powiązanie z otoczeniem odczuwalne jest w każdym z budynków Parku, niemniej jednak interpretowane jest ono w swoisty, charakterystyczny dla danego obiektu i jego twórcy sposób. Relacja architektura–natura realizowana jest poprzez wpisanie budynku w topografię terenu, wykorzystanie płaszczyzn dachu jako kontynuacji przestrzeni publicznej, transparentność i przenikanie z otoczeniem, a także poprzez wprowadzenie do wnętrz elementów przyrody – ogrodów wewnętrznych.

Podgląd pełnego artykułu jest możliwy wyłącznie na większych ekranach.

Pełny artykuł

Hilversum is a town with a population of 85 thousand

people and now it is the 35

biggest town in Holland. It is

located circa 30 kilometres south-east of Amsterdam with

which it has connections by railway, road and canal net-

work. Historic origins of the town date back to the Bronze

(UDDVWKH¿UVWGRFXPHQWHGWUDFHVRIFXOWXUHÀRXULVKLQJLQ

these areas come from that period. Its further development

was connected with gaining the independence status in

PHGLDHYDOWLPHVLQ7KH¿UVWSHULRGRIWXUEXOHQWGH-

velopment of the city took place in the 17

century when

thanks to a network of canal connections with Amsterdam

textile industry expanded there. The city owes its another

period of development to the expansion of railways in the

century when rich people from Amsterdam started to

settle down in villas surrounded by woods, thus forming

the city’s present character and its spatial shape.

At present Hilversum is mainly known as the Dutch

capital of the radio and TV industry. It became the location

of seats, studios and archives of several stations, national

and commercial ones, what is worth emphasising, in a way

that does not interfere with the identity of the town and its

special villa character. It was made possible due to situat-

ing the buildings connected with radio and TV technology

in a park area in the northern part of the city. The build-

ings erected with respecting the existing townscape were

EOHQGHGLQ ZLWK QDWXUDO WRSRJUDSK\DQG ÀRUD RI WKHWHU-

rain. Thanks to the size limitations and the respect towards

the environment so characteristic of Dutch architecture as

well as the use of sustainable solutions in designing, even

the large-sized structures were successfully given the char-

acter referring to the 19

-century city tissue.

Patrycja Haupt*

Hilversum – green interior of the media

City of the media

Faculty of Architecture, Cracow University of Technology.

Pop culture and sustainable designing

Buildings situated in the area of the Media Park as a

comprehensive complex have become a part of the pan-

orama of city which surrounds it. Nevertheless, each of

them retains its own unique character which is visible in

the structural shape, façade design as well as the way of in-

teracting with the surroundings, according to James Wines

who once said: ‘potential variations of green architecture

DUH LQ¿QLWH >@¶> S @(DFK EXLOGLQJ FRQVWLWXWHV DQ

individual response of a designer to the problem of com-

bining features characteristic of the media stylistics of the

pop culture era in one structure with simultaneous atten-

tion to harmony with surroundings that is typical of con-

temporary trends of sustainable designing. Architecture

created in accordance with such assumptions is an attempt

to form a spatial sign – icon for a company represented

in this way with simultaneous blending with the terrain,

thus co-creating the townscape of contemporary Hilver-

sum. Relations with the surroundings are explicitly visible

in each of the park buildings; nonetheless, it is interpreted

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its designer. The relation architecture – nature is realised

through blending the building in with the terrain topogra-

phy, using the roof panels as a continuation of the public

space, transparency and permeating with the surroundings

as well as introducing elements of nature into interiors

– internal gardens.

2012

No. 2(32)

DOI: 10.5277/arc120213

82 Patrycja Haupt

The building of RVU

VWDWLRQZDVRQHRIWKH¿UVWZKLFK

was constructed during the extension of the Media Park.

The structure, which was realised in the years 1994–1997,

became a reference to the subsequent realisations in this

DUHD>@7KHSODFHVHOHFWHGIRUWKHFRQVWUXFWLRQRIWKHVHDW

of RVU station, according to the original land-use planning

document, was intended to be an undeveloped ecological

corridor introduced between two intensively urbanised

districts of Hilversum. However, the authors of the design

– architects from MVRDV group – presented their vision

of a building blended in with the natural inclination of

the terrain, combined with the landscape and introducing

nature into the urban tissue. In this way, the assumptions

RIWKHSODQZHUHVDWLV¿HGE\WKHXQLTXHFKDUDFWHURIWKH

green roof covering the entire area of the building. At the

same time, this area constitutes a continuation of the pub-

lic space and serves as a viewing point for the area of the

Media Park and from the side of the street it does not re-

veal the cubature hidden underneath. From the side of the

green areas, the existence of the building is disclosed by

the façade which was suspended above the ground on the

network of slender steel posts. This arrangement makes

the building look ‘wrapped up’ by the green area from un-

derneath, from above and from side façades and thus it

seems to be penetrated by the surroundings (Fig. 1).

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Blending with the terrain

VPRO – Vrijzinnig Protestantse Radio Omroep (Liberal Protestant

Radio Station) – started its activities in Holland in 1926 as a religious

radio. In the 1950s and 1960s the religious character of this station was

changed into a secular, social and liberal character and the station began

to broadcast television programmes. At present its programmes are con-

sidered to be mostly connected with culture. Similarly to all the public

media in Holland, it has no permanent channel.

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The principle of architecture intermingling with the

landscape – or permeating the landscape – was also used

in the project of another building designed in Hilversum by

the MVRDV group – Villa VPRO

IURP>@$ORQJ

with the seat of RVU station, this building constitutes a

W\SHRIDVSHFL¿FJDWHWRWKHSDUN7KLVWLPHWKHVWUXFWXUH

was composed of several combined forms which, similarly

to the historical development of this district, were situated

among the green areas. The effect of permeating with the

landscape was achieved due to the employment of trans-

parent, glassed façades. Surrounding nature permeates in-

side, can be observed from there and it constitutes a back-

ground for the transparent building. The building, similarly

to RVU, blends with the terrain using its natural land form.

Slabs of ferroconcrete ceilings that cut into the building on

various heights crossing the façades constitute multi-layer

connections with levels of its grassy foundation. The solu-

WLRQWKDWZDVXVHGKHUHFRQVLVWHGLQWKHHIIHFWRIÀRDWLQJ

above the ground, as it was in the case of the RVU seat ar-

rangement. However, here it was realized by curving and

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IUHHLQJWKH VSDFHEHWZHHQWKHÀRRUVRIWKHEXLOGLQJDQG

at the same time augmenting its lightness. This allowed

for making this part of the building completely translucent

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Also in this case the building was covered by a green roof,

which makes its volume blend in with the surroundings

and constitute their continuation (Fig. 3).

Another building of the Media Park is Beeld en Geluid

Instituut (the Netherlands’ Institute for Sound and Vision)

(Fig. 2, 3) designed by the studio Neutelings Riedijk Ar-

chitects in 2003. The buildings discussed above constituted

a continuation of the park as they were located at the meet-

ing point of the green areas and the exclusive historical

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harmony with the surroundings. The Institute, which is an

archive of the Dutch television achievements, was situated

in the corner of the development quarter on the outskirts

of the park. From the south it ends the line of halls of an

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RVU – Radio Volks Universiteit (Folk University Radio) – the old-

est Dutch radio station existing under this name in the years 1931–2010.

This station, established in 1930 by the Dutch Association of Folk Uni-

versities, was given a license in 1931 and in 1932 it was transformed into

a public media. In 1983 RVU also appeared on TV with some educational

programmes broadcast by station Nederland 2, and later Nederland 3.

Now, starting from 2010 RV is a part of NTR group (the name comes

IURP WKH ¿UVW OHWWHUVRI WKHEURDGFDVWHUV 1367HOHDF DQG 598 7KH

mission of RVU remains unchanged since its beginnings – broadcast-

ing informative and educational programmes as well as improving social

relations.

Beeld en Geluid Instituut (Netherland Institute for Sound and

Vision) – it is one of the biggest European audio-visual archives. The

building contains about 800 thousand hours of materials coming from the

Dutch radio and television programmes, which constitutes over 80% of

the national heritage in this domain.

Hilversum – green interior of the media 83

whereas from the east it borders on the main thoroughfare

leading to the central part of the town. Due to this loca-

tion the building – from the side of the park – has the fea-

tures which were observed earlier in the case of RVU and

VPRO stations such as transparency and blending with the

surroundings, whereas in the part which is closer to the

intensively urbanized zone the building has a totally dif-

ferent appearance. Its cubic form, namely, a cube which is

half-hidden in the terrain, is covered by three glass panels

on three sides with a colourful inscription. They consti-

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of which was to introduce a sustainable character into the

realisation. At the same time, this way of arranging the

façade contributed to the artistic expression of the building

which is associated with a colourful stylistics of the media

message. The wall situated on the side of green areas was

shaped differently. It was glazed and it opens to the frag-

ment of reconstructed natural landscape with a water res-

ervoir. Thanks to this solution, which is augmented due to

WKHJUDGXDOO\ORZHUHGÀRRURIWKHDXGLWRULXP]RQHQDWXUH

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PHQWRILWVLQWHULRUVSDWLDOFRPSRVLWLRQ>@

Fig. 3. Institute for Sound and Vision, Neutelings Riedijk Architects,

Hilversum, 2003 (photo by P. Haupt, 2011)

Il. 3. Institute for Sound and Vision, Neutelings Riedijk Architects,

Hilversum, 2003 (fot. P. Haupt, 2011)

Fig. 4. Media Headquarters, Ector Hoogstad Architecten,

+LOYHUVXP6RXUFH>@

Il. 4. Media Headquarters, Ector Hoogstad Architecten,

+LOYHUVXPħUyGáR>@

Green interior of the media

The building of Media Headquarters designed by team

Ector Hoogstad Architecten, as the previous ones, serves

the media – television stations AVRO

, KRO

and NCRV

being with harmony with the surroundings of Hilversum.

The building erected in 2000, according to its designer,

constitutes an attempt to blend in a large volume structure

ZLWKWKHVXEXUEDQSDUNDQGYLOOD]RQHRI+LOYHUVXP>@

About 35 thousand square metres of the building’s usable

area constitute a segmented four-storey structure divided

by inner courtyards. Each of them opens to the park area

by means of the glass façade and in this way the landscape

¿OWHUVLQVLGHWKHEXLOGLQJ$GGLWLRQDOO\HDFKDWULXPKDVLWV

own inner garden designed by the group of WEST 8 land-

VFDSHDUFKLWHFWV,QWKHJHRPHWULFDOFUDFNVRIWKHÀRRUKLJK

bamboo trees were planted with tunnel passages through

WKHP±FRV\VSRWVRIWKHLQWHULRURIWKHEXLOGLQJ¿OOHGZLWK

its users. They constitute a continuation of nature that per-

AVRO – Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep (General Radio

Broadcasting Association) – public association of stations, mainly radio

stations. Within the framework of this organisation the Dutch stations

such as Radio 1, Radio 2, 3 FM and Radio 5 broadcast their programmes.

The association also deals with producing over 20 serial television pro-

grammes.

KRO – Katholieke Radio Omroep (Catholic Radio Station) – it is

a public station which started broadcasting on 23

April 1925. At pre-

sent, it broadcasts mainly television programmes of a religious character

propagating the image of the Catholic Church in Holland.

NCRV – Nederlandse Christelijke Radio Vereniging (Dutch Chris-

tian Radio Association) – at present, since 1951 this public organisation

mainly has dealt with producing and broadcasting television programmes

which are shown on channels Nederland 1 and Nederland 2 for the gen-

eral audience.

Fig. 2. Institute for Sound and Vision, Neutelings Riedijk Architects,

Hilversum, 2003 (photo by P. Haupt, 2011)

Il. 2. Institute for Sound and Vision, Neutelings Riedijk Architects,

Hilversum, 2003 (fot. P. Haupt, 2011)

84 Patrycja Haupt

meates inside and also form parts of the system improving

the quality of air in the entire building. The interior com-

positional effect turned out to be so attractive aesthetically

that some of the programmes are broadcast from the green

courtyard interiors and the work of reporters can be ob-

VHUYHGIURPWKH¿UVWÀRRUJDOOHU\)LJ

Summary and conclusions

Analysing the spatial development of the Media Park

in Hilversum, we can notice that sustainable solutions

have been used there since the 1990s. The land-use plan-

ning document that introduced an ecological corridor into

the town centre was respected by the subsequent investors

and designers acting in this area. We can conclude that the

philosophy of sustainable development is present at each

VWDJHRIDQLQYHVWPHQW±GHVLJQLQJEXLOGLQJDQGXVLQJ>@

Thanks to this manner of thinking, it turns out that pro-

ecological architecture and town planning are suitable for

each domain of life, even the one that is associated with

mass culture so much as the media. When we look at reali-

sations of the buildings associated with the radio industry,

we can observe that introducing sustainable solutions in

arranging buildings and urban interiors does not limit the

designers, but it enriches their projects. Due to interacting

with nature, architecture acquires a new aesthetic dimen-

sion. In the process, also the public space achieves a new

expression because it is treated by users as a friendly place

which is suitable for social contacts. The example of Hil-

versum also shows that, when pursuing a new character of

architecture, it is possible to achieve an attractive modern

spatial form simultaneously preserving the identity of the

place with the image of the town, its development and its

green areas.

Translated by

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Key words: architecture of media, city park, sustainable architecture,

sustainable interior

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