SuperHub Meerstad

De Zwarte Hond is proud to announce completion of the SuperHub in Meerstad

Inspired by the mission to better connect the burgeoning Groningen district, and to transform it into an interactive social space, De Zwarte Hond was commissioned by real estate developer MWPO to design a multifunctional and adaptive central
building for the neighbourhood. The innovative community hub was inaugurated on November 2nd.

Centre in a Green Heart

Meerstad is an up-and-coming district of Groningen. The area is popular for its open space, greenery, and the Woldmeer recreational lake, around which a neighbourhood with 5,000 new homes will be built in the coming decades. Eventually, the area will grow into a vivid city district. With this future expansion in mind, it is important for the neighbourhood to contain an inviting community centre, which will serve as a place for residents to shop, gather, and eat. De Zwarte Hond’s eye-catching SuperHub embodies this central function, while embracing sustainability and quality of life as central design values.

Modern Market Hall

The SuperHub represents a revitalized circular version of the traditional market hall design. It is expansive and transparent, with a supporting structure made entirely of cross-shaped laminated wooden columns and beams, providing the building with a cathedral-like appearance. The large span and nine-metre ceiling height create an exceptionally luminous space and offer the opportunity for flexible layout and usage adaptations in the future. The large canopy, which extends out more than five metres, provides sun protection and draws the structure into its green surroundings with the use of elegant columns and net-like wooden trusses. Additionally, cleverly designed cross forms provide the building with stability, ensuring that no additional wind bracing infrastructure is required. The choice of wooden construction also ensures a positive climate impact.

Ecological and Sustainable
SuperHub is a modern symbiosis of a marketplace and shopping centre, where visitors can do their shopping and visit a trendy café. In addition, the structure was built to last and offers the possibility for future adjustments or additions. The flexible, open layout allows for its functions to be reinvented along with the changing needs of the community, meaning that it will not become outdated or be demolished in the future. The building could, for example, accommodate a community centre, a museum, or even homes in 20 years’ time. In this way, SuperHub manifests itself as a future-proof community hub that will grow along with the development of Meerstad.

The roof of the SuperHub has been reserved for the placement of solar panels and plants for bees and insects. The built-in air treatment installation, as well as the heat and cold ground storage, ensure an optimal and energy-efficient indoor climate. Furthermore, the structure is also designed in such a way that it can absorb and withstand the vibrations of Groningen earthquakes. Additionally, the SuperHub’s flexible design allows it to fulfill a wide array of functions and activities, such as community gatherings.

Varied and Multifunctional

SuperHub offers the Meerstad neighbourhood an opportunity for varied functionality, and currently includes a supermarket and a café. In addition to its function as a source of food provision, the open and spacious building functions as a meeting place for residents. Our aim was to make the shopping experience personal and social once again, and to offer residents a refreshing alternative to increasingly popular express delivery services. The impressive spatial qualities of the structure are essential here in fulfilling its purpose as an attractive and multifunctional community centre. Accordingly, the supermarket becomes a place for the purchase of everyday groceries, but also a way to meet each other, thereby contributing to the social sustainability of the Meerstad neighbourhood.

Team:
Architects: De Zwarte Hond
Collaborators: MWPO, Brands Bouw B.V., Maripaan Groep, Jumbo Supermarkten, Bureau Meerstad, Pieters Bouwtechniek, DGMR 
Photographers: Ronald Tilleman, Ronald Zijlstra

The new Groningen district of Meerstad is one cathedral richer. Only it is not a church but a multifunctional, self-sufficient, circular meeting place: SuberHub Meerstad. Constructed from wood, steel and glass, the building is a cross between a classic market hall and a modern shopping centre. For the enormous straight and curved glazing, which also had to be insulating and sun-resistant, Alraf Aluminum Ramenfabriek enlisted the expertise of Vandaglas. Everyone, from client to glazier, is proud of the collaboration and the result.

At the beginning of autumn 2021, contractor Brands Bouw started construction of the SuperHub in the Groningen new housing estate Groenewei. The assignment came from real estate developer MWPO and the design from the Groningen architectural firm De Zwarte Hond. In a year and a half, a special and challenging construction project was realized. The enormous windows in the design, combined with the requirements from the point of view of social sustainability and climate objectives, required specialized custom work.

From Alraf to today's glass

The client and contractor called on the Ter Apel window factory Alraf for the many frames that the building has. Alraf is best known as an expert in the field of aluminum window frames, but also has all the knowledge and expertise to supply the steel window constructions for the SuperHub. A special combination of requirements was set for the glazing in it: sun protection but not tinted, optimum insulating values ​​and, for all corners of the building, curved glass. Because of this last criterion, Leon Dol, a buyer at Alraf, called Gert Schrik from vandaglas. The collaboration between the two companies has been going on for more than 10 years and dates back to the time when Vandaglas was still known as Glassolutions B.V.

International specialist in curved glass

With branches and factories in England, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, the Vandaglas group is an expert European player for special glazing. We asked Gert Schrik, the project manager at Vandaglas, why they were specifically asked for the SuperHub glazing: “The German Vandaglas factory specializes in both aesthetic curved glass and special coatings. We were able to produce and deliver the entire window section for the SuperHub from Berlin. It is a specialty in which we are at the forefront in Europe.” Based on the specs for the SuperHub, Vandaglas advised and supplied TriplePerform XTR70/33 triple glazing for the straight sections and double glazing for the curved windows of IsoPerform XTR70/33. Both types of glass have an identical highly selective solar control coating that appears completely transparent or neutral to the eye.

The challenge: measure and fit

Dimensioning for insulating glass, especially if it is curved, always keeps small margins. When installing the supplied windows, it is equally exciting whether what was written on paper also works out well in practice. Certainly with regard to the glazing for the SuperHub, which had a slightly longer delivery time due to the specialisms used. If a window pane had not fitted somewhere, this could have seriously delayed the project. But, to the great pride and satisfaction of all involved, there was no hiccup. Leon Dol: “The straight and curved windows arrived at the construction site undamaged and one by one all fitted nicely into the steel frames, which in turn fell seamlessly into the wooden trusses from which the SuperHub was built. It is not only a special project in terms of design, but also in terms of implementation.”

Ready for the future

The intention was for SuperHub Meerstad to fulfill a number of basic functions and at the same time to be a meeting place, a visible central social point in the new district. The building, which now houses a supermarket, among other things, also had to be able to move along with changing destinations in the future, if developments in the neighborhood demand it. All these conditions have been met and, moreover, the entire building can be dismantled and rebuilt elsewhere or the materials reused. In practice, it is a cast-iron example of what good teamwork can achieve. And in the field of glass, the Vandaglas group has ensured that light, indoor climate, insulation and design coincide seamlessly in the SuperHub. Are you in Groningen? Go see it, it's worth it!

-www.vandaglas.com- 

text: Roel van Gils

The SuperHub in Meerstad is a modern complex constructed with timber frame architecture. It is a multifunctional building that can be repurposed in the future. The design features a striking glass facade, allowing visitors to maintain a connection with the surrounding environment.

However, a glass facade can lead to overheating or unwanted sunlight shining directly on visitors. To address this, Storax was commissioned to equip the facade with Structural Aluminium Louvered Sunshades. These Icarus louvers follow the shape of the building, adding an extra dimension to the design.