Projects -

New Babylon

Bezuiden-
houtseweg
The Hague

2003 – 2012

Programme
Office renovation (20,000 m²); new offices (31,000 m²), 335 dwellings (53,000 m²), podium/retail: shops, services (18,000 m²) hotel, car park with 1251 parking bays.

Client
Babylon Den Haag (a collaboration between SNS Property Finance en Fortress)

Awards
International High-rise Award 2012 - Nominee

In 2003 Meyer en Van Schooten Architecten were commissioned to design the renovation and extension of Babylon, a mixed development of offices, shops, restaurants and a cinema adjacent to The Hague’s Central Station. The programme will be more than tripled, from 44,500 to 142,000 m². The New Babylon project is part of a large-scale redesign of the area around Central Station and the station itself. For example, beside New Babylon and in front of the station, a plan by OMA will be realized. The public space in the surrounding area is complex and multiform and a key aim of the project is to ameliorate that situation.
The first two levels are occupied by shops, restaurants and other commercial functions. From the entrances on each of the building’s four sides, wide, light-filled passageways guide the public through the complex, creating an attractive route between Anna van Buerenplein and the Malieveld. The upper levels are occupied by offices and a conference centre while the two towers, respectively 100 and 140 metres high, contain 335 upmarket owner-occupied and rental apartments. The old Babylon building, which has been renovated and retains its hotel and office space function, has been ‘embraced’ by the new construction. This is clearly visible on the corner of Koningin Julianaplein, where a new wing was built over the top of the old hotel.