To replace the outdated municipal maintenance depot, BDG Architects designed a new sustainable and efficient facility for the Service and Maintenance team of the Municipality of Zeist. It provides a comfortable home base for both indoor and outdoor staff, with inviting spaces to work, collaborate, and meet. At the same time, the facility ensures safe and efficient logistics, offering ample workshop space, storage, and vehicle parking. The new depot is located between the fire station and a residential neighbourhood. By positioning the building as a highly compact volume along the southern boundary of the site, generous circulation routes were created, providing sufficient space for the larger turning circles required by service vehicles.
Locally reclaimed concrete paving slabs in the façade
The Municipality of Zeist's sustainability ambitions are clearly reflected in the new depot. By applying the principles of circular construction—reduce, reuse, and recycle—the design focuses on preserving the value of materials and resources: using rather than consuming them. For example, the entire structure, façade, and interior fit-out were designed as a dry construction system, allowing materials to be easily disassembled and reused in the future. The timber structure not only stores significant amounts of CO2 but also contributes to a healthier indoor environment for its users.
The robust plinth is clad with broken concrete paving slabs reclaimed from within the municipality itself. As part of the Dutch National Tile Removal Championship (NK Tegelwippen), residents of Zeist replaced paving stones with greenery. Paving slabs from a school playground opposite the new depot were also harvested and reused. In total, more than 30,000 reclaimed paving slabs were laid in a staggered brick bond, with the broken edges facing outward to create the plinth. Above this base, the building features a façade clad in reclaimed pallet timber.
A clear distinction between clean and dirty functions
The façade subtly expresses the building's internal programme. The "dirty" functions, such as workshops and operational spaces, are located on the ground floor behind the robust concrete plinth, while the "clean" functions are housed on the first floor behind the timber façade. These include office space for the field service teams and the 24-hour emergency maintenance service, touchdown workspaces for other municipal employees such as Special Enforcement Officers, and the canteen—the central meeting place within the building.
Positioned at the heart of the first floor with views over the workshop, the canteen encourages interaction between colleagues. An adjoining rooftop terrace functions as a sheltered green outdoor room, extending opportunities for collaboration and informal meetings. An energy-generating pergola filters sunlight while creating a comfortable and pleasant environment for both the canteen and the adjacent multifunctional space.
A closed energy cycle
The building generates more energy than it consumes. Surplus electricity is fed back into the grid, while battery storage captures excess energy whenever grid congestion occurs. This stored energy can, for example, be used to charge the municipality's electric vehicle fleet. Wherever possible, the site has been paved with permeable surfaces, including grass concrete pavers. All rainwater is collected and infiltrated on site, with harvested rainwater reused for purposes such as flushing the toilets.
