Town Hall Lochem

 

Connecting visual language for a new municipality

As a result of municipal redistricting, the municipality of Lochem grew significantly. To accommodate the municipal apparatus and better serve residents, the decision was made to build a new town hall. Rau Architects designed a durable and transparent building. The interior architects of Studio Groen+Schild drew the interior plan. M2uur bv was commissioned to design and apply its own, connecting visual language in the building.

Client:

Municipality of Lochem

Architect:

Rau Architecten, Amsterdam

Studio Groen & Schild, Deventer

Designer:

Jean Klare

Location:

Glass walls, doors and lockers

Material:

Vinyl foils with full color and white print

Dimensions:

90 m2

Year of realization:

2013

Junctions

What makes the ‘new’ municipality of Lochem unique is the great diversity of its villages. Cores with their own character, which together form part of a new whole. Graphic designer Jean Klare, known among other things for the Atlas of the World of Experience, went to work with these data. He elaborated this into an entirely unique visual language, which stands for intersections, interconnectedness, and individuality of the Lochem cores.

Functional

Klare’s designs not only have a purely decorative value. Rau’s design is light and transparent. To keep that intact, but also to meet the desire to create several more screened-off meeting and workspaces, Studio Groen+Schild envisioned a number of visuals on glass. Klare’s designs were transferred to crystal-clear, self-adhesive foils printed in white color and a red spot color. The unprinted parts of the design are thus completely transparent. By varying the positioning of the designs on the glass, the desired privacy can be achieved naturally.

Signage

The idea soon arose to create a derivative of the designs for the signage in the building, such as the indication of routes, lettering on furnishing elements and room numbering. The relationship between the designs on the glass and the signage creates cohesion and also gives the building something very unique. Subtle, but recognizable, these applied prints have become an integral part of the building.

Town Hall Lochem