Huis aan de Markt – The people of Sittard build a Town Hall

Buildings of communal authorities are capable of offering citizens a bodily experience of democracy. In times of a global recline of democracies, architecture is even more needed to make the principles of representative democracy more accessible again. It is against this background that we have investigated the typology of the city hall in the course of this bachelor's thesis.

In 1968, the historic city hall of the Limburgian city of Sittard was demolished and replaced by a building for the Dutch department store Vroom & Dreesmann. Following years of controversies, the city government is currently seeking to demolish the store building and replace it with a new Huis aan de Markt comprising of a council hall and chambers as well as apartments and workspaces. The students have taken on this actual design task.

In spite of Sittard's loss of the old city hall – a painful incident for many citizens – we sought to design a contemporary version of a centuries-old building type. This bachelor's thesis aimed to tackle the challenge to merge in one design disparate functions and features such as private and public spaces, a clock tower and an architectural articulation of the yearly Appelsienesjmiete – a carnevalesque custom where officials throw oranges to local children.