Popular tourist attraction Kinderdijk, famous for its Unesco World Heritage landscape of traditional Dutch windmills, became a logistical nightmare with busloads of tourists without a clear entrance. M& DB architects declutters the area filled with a provisional souvenir shop and rows of porta potties and replaces them with a minimal visitor center.
With two distinct glass volumes the visitor center reorganises the visitor flows in two clear directions. One welcomes arriving visitors with ticket sales and a small submerged cinema that brings visitors close to the water level. The other is dedicated to visitors at the end of their visit and includes a café, a souvenir shop and, in the basement, the toilets and kitchen.
A staircase that separates the two volumes leads to a viewing platform on the roof. Here visitors can enjoy a panoramic view of the Kinderdijk landscape.
The architects position the building half on the water to allow for views along the quay. The roof further accentuates the directionality of the landscape. They aim to embed the visitor center in the landscape’s spatial logic layered in between water and sky.
