Keyserkerk Middenbeemster

The Keyserkerk is a protected monument in the middle of De Beemster, a UNESCO World Heritage location. Our design of the ground allows the church to stand on a beautiful and calm salver so that attention falls on the church itself.

Location

Middenbeemster, Nederland

Principal

Protestantse gemeente Beemster

Partners

BiermanHenket architecten en Jacqueline van der Kloet

Surface Area

0,34 ha

Design Year

2012

Implementation

2013-2014

The Keyserkerk is a protected monument in the middle of De Beemster, a UNESCO World Heritage location. The church was built in 1623 on a raised piece of ground at an intersection in what was then called Middenbeemster. After four centuries of use the layout of this piece of ground was worn out, fragmentary and outdated, while the level of the ground itself had fallen over the years. Moreover, a community centre had been built next to the church.

BiermanHenket architecten designed a serene extension in which exhibitions, meetings and concerts can be organised as well as the religious services. That extension is subordinate to the monumental Keyserkerk through its high level of transparency and the use of dark materials. As a result, the new extension almost literally withdraws into the shadow of the church. Besides, it is sunken in the raised ground. That ground would lose its symmetry and balance as a result of the soil subsidence and the new extension. This made the design of the ground itself the major task: its clear new shape allows the church to stand on a beautiful and calm salver so that attention falls on the church itself.

Access to the new building beside the main entrance of the church had to be created at various levels. A few incisions in the natural platform were sufficient to organise access to the church and the extension within the platform in a natural way. To forge it all into a unity, the path leading to the side of the new building was extended to form a circular path with an elegant and autonomous shape. This path varies in width and is made from copper-brown fired clinker bricks, whose colour and material harmonise well with the church and the new extension. Instead of disturbance, the path creates unity. The lighting is reticent and has a contemporary look.

Several monumental trees could be kept. New trees have also been added, scattered loosely around the church to keep the emphasis on the natural platform itself, which has been entirely sown with grass. A spring spectacle is guaranteed by the planting of 100.000 bulbs.

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