V&D Alkmaar

location
Laat 143, Alkmaar
The Netherlands
status
design phase
typology
retail stores, medium large apartments
team
ir. Heiko Hulsker| ir. Robbert van der Lee| ir. Ugur Sütcü| ir. Thijs Giskes| Laura Salemi|

Vroom & Dreesmann (V&D), one of the protagonists of department stores in the Netherlands. This retail concern built and used building across the whole country built in decorative styles like art-deco or Amsterdam School. After declaring bankruptcy in 2016, many people in the country were engaged about the future of these remarkable buildings. Many ideas were proposed about what to do with them. Since 2020 we are working on a design to refurbish one of these buildings: V&D Alkmaar.

V&D 1925
V&D 1933

beacon

V&D in Alkmaar was built in 1925. During that time this department store ignited the commercial life in Laat, the shopping street. Since then almost every adult citizen of Alkmaar has a (childhood) memory of the spatial experience of this building. The initially compact building underwent three significant expansions, resulting in a large architectural presence in the fine scaled historic city center of Alkmaar. The first expansion in 1933 was a clear continuation of the original architectural style the initial building was built in. The level of detail in this art-deco style was replicated in the new spaces of this expansion. The expansions that followed were relatively sober and focused on the commercial function of a warehouse rather than the architectural details and the spatial experience.
fine details of the layered facade

rediscovering V&D

Throughout the years many structural and esthetical layers of V&D became hidden underneath the white blanket of modernity. Peeling off architectural elements like lowered ceilings and retailing walls brings light to the original riches of the building. One of our main goals in this project is to show the riches of the building and to make the different building phases visible for the naked eye. Teaming up with the municipality and various state departments, we are in an advanced stage of repurposing this monument into an object the habitants of Alkmaar can be proud of to live in.
the decorative rooms from 1925
the capitals from 1925
the columns from 1925