Government Office De Nieuwe Post

The former post office next to Arnhem railway station will be converted into a business building housing several government agencies, to be called ‘De Nieuwe Post’ (‘The New Post’). An integrated design team, made up of Karres en Brands as well as Kraaijvanger, and led by Heijmans, was awarded the tender for the revitalisation and expansion of the Stationsplein West Government Office (‘rijkskantoor’), a multi-government-agency business building in Arnhem. With the new Government Office, the area around Arnhem railway station will be given an attractive new meaning. The current car park will be replaced by an environmentally friendly roof garden that will be open to the public. In addition, the immediate surroundings will be enriched with greenery, and because the public entrance will be in a different place, this will become an attractive and publicly accessible route connecting the railway station and Arnhem city centre.

Since there is currently no greenery around the Government Office, the surroundings look unwelcoming. The outdoor space is geared towards logistics, and does not invite people to linger. In order to make the place properly future-proof, we will have to apply a broad, area-specific approach to spatial quality, sustainability, good health and transport, in which the building will become part of the city’s ecosystem, while at the same time contributing to it. Our design focuses on restoring the legibility of the height differences in the push moraine.

By giving a clear address to both sides of the city, we will provide orientation and activation on all sides. The two-layer transitional zone between the buildings and the street, which will be open to the public, will make it much easier to get through the area and will generate a great deal of liveliness. Because the Grand Café, Rijksontmoetingsplein (‘government agency meeting square’), service desks and other public programmes are all located here, the building encourages users and local residents to meet and talk to each other. To make it more pleasant to go from the station area to the Government Office, we propose implementing various interventions that will help improve the routing and air quality, make people more likely to linger, as well as reduce heat stress in this otherwise highly paved-over neighbourhood around the station. 

The Government Office itself will boast a rich combination of green rooftops and a public courtyard, which will form a green oasis for residents, passersby and employees. The publicly accessible inner courtyards in the urban block will form the main thoroughfare between the entrance, which is situated 6 metres higher, and the railway station, whose ticket booths can be accessed from Stationsplein West. The ambiance of the courtyard is based on the properties of the surrounding landscape of the outer edges of the Veluwe National Park. A cohesive look is created by means of plants carefully selected for their effect, looks and biodiversity, as well as sustainable water management and recycled or recyclable materials.

This project sees the Central Government Real Estate Agency, Heijmans, designers and other parties collaborate in an innovative manner, in accordance with the DOEN philosophy. Additional funds will be made available for plans that create added value for this project. For that reason, the design team used ‘Het Nieuwe Normaal’ standards as its guideline in outlining its ambitions.