minimum imprint, maximum hospitality

How do you design a temporary construction that matches with the identity and hospitality of Staatsbosbeheer? This is the main question of the design competition of Staatsbosbeheer for the realisation of a flexible reception building at the entrance of a bunker complex located in their dunes.

Staatsbosbeheer owns 265.000 hectares of nature. "We do this on the basis of three main tasks: to ensure that we can protect nature, use nature together with and for others as sustainably as possible and experience and make our areas recreational”. In the case of this project, the concerned area was Wassenaarseslag and Rijksdorp.

[natuurlijk welkom] is a transparent, flexible and temporary pavilion, designed to be in the open. With a minimum imprint on the landscape the pavilion creates a maximum of hospitality.

The transparent and light structure feels very subtle in the landscape, there is no floor and the base exists only of the outer frame. The compact interior consists of four functional modules that stand on four small legs. The idea is to respect nature and make the smallest possible footprint.

The required closed functions are brought together in a single autonomous object and consist of four modules, which are easy to transport. Moreover, it is possible to add or replace modules in the future.

The pavilion was designed to have a wooden dismountable structure covered with single panels of transparent polycarbonate. This is light in terms of weight and less vulnerable than glass. The panels on the roof are covered with PV cells that provides energy for any programme taking place inside the pavilion.