Tea House on bunker

Vreeland, Netherlands

Photo © Christian Richters

Architects: UNStudio

Location: Vreeland, Netherlands
Year: 2006

The project involves the reprogramming of a historical and derelict building through renovation and addition. The original bunker is part of an intricate water management system that enabled the inundation of land in case of attack situated in a classic, Dutch polder landscape.

Stables and polo fields now surround the building and the new addition is intended as a large space with facilities to support a meeting space or business retreat. The existing 1936 bunker remains intact except of a portion of the concrete roof where the new structure connects whilst the new addition is like an umbrella, an addition that could be removed and does not damage or permanently influence the historic structure. The metallic addition appears to have grown out of the still visible concrete facades of the bunker, cantilevering out towards the sports fields with its large single window. In fact the space is designed with steel structures within its two main walls which act as one story high beams. These beams are balanced off center on two columns that land directly in front of the existing bunker. Stability is achieved by using the massive concrete shell of the bunker as a counterweight, offsetting the forces of the cantilevering extension by connecting it with the two beams.

The bunker houses all the new installations and public circulation restricted to the new addition. Entrance into the building is accessed between the existing bunker’s outer façade, which remains uncovered, and the new façade cladding of the addition.