Our carefully orchestrated residential tower adds street-level harmony as well as architectural grandeur to an inner-city development in The Hague.
Living up to its musical name, our Sonate Adagio residential development in The Hague embodies pure harmony with its surroundings: the neighboring towers of the Wijnhavenkwartier and the newly developed station area around the Turfmarkt. At the same time, it also forms an architectural high point, as at 90 meters high, it is the tallest of the new residential towers along the Ammunitiehaven to which it belongs and stands out due to its distinguished sculptural presence.
A Touch of Drama
Sonate Adagio has a touch of the prima donna about it, thanks to the rather flamboyant arrangement of its façades. On the longer sides, an expansive setback beautifully accentuates the straight vertical drama of the façades on the shorter sides, which almost merge at their distinctive rounded corners. The façades of Sonate Adagio alternate between refined off-white blasted cement elements and rich dark tile-patterned brickwork, creating a dynamic interplay of color from every angle.
The plinth on which the building stands houses its commercial functions and a sizable bicycle parking facility. Adding visual impact to the plinth is a vertically grooved, blasted-concrete detailing that incorporates a beautiful screen-like pattern of openings at the second-floor level. With its softly sculpted lines, this high-quality detailing significantly enhances the streetscape, giving character and uniqueness to the expansive glass surfaces of the plinth. Carefully designed entrances warmly welcome residents and guests.
Residential Flexibility
Sonate Adagio offers commercial rented accommodation in various sizes and types. While this is a residential building, the layout of the commercial program on the ground floor and mezzanine level is generous and accompanied only by a minimum of technical spaces and the entrances (to the parking and the residential floors).
Flexibility is also ensured by the construction. An in-situ concrete structure up to the second floor gives way to a prefabricated concrete structure from the third to the twenty-fourth floor. The façades are load-bearing, allowing for an open and flexible floor plan that can be divided in many different ways.
These numerous options in the residential floor plans range from compact two-room apartments on the lower floors to luxury penthouses with open-corner living rooms on the top floors. All the apartments benefit from great views.
In Tune with Its Context
The tower makes an orchestrated overture to passers-by, complementing and completing its companion development, Sonate Bolero. It also makes a pleasing rhythmic transition to the new Amare building, whose façade detailing it echoes. Together, the two Sonate towers add a new leitmotif to the skyline of The Hague. Besides residential accommodation, they collectively encompass several commercial spaces. They add the finishing touch to the newly redeveloped and high-profile Spuikwartier in the heart of The Hague, right across from Richard Meier’s City Hall.
Much like MVSA’s New Babylon project (The Hague) and the WTC Office building (Utrecht), the Sonate Adagio project is a complex inner-city development. It holds its own and responds intelligently to an intricate landscape, including the renovated Wijnhaven building, the Amare building, the Sonate ensemble, a large existing underground parking garage, slow traffic on the Turfmarkt, and heavy traffic on the Schedeldoekshaven.
