A hub is commonly a centre or nucleus, a place where people or things converge, forge connections and embark on new ventures. The approach remains the same across the board, whether in electronic data processing or urban planning.

Rippling rushes instead of rushing traffic

In this context, a mixed-use building with facilities including a supermarket, café, health centre and nursery can also mutate into a SuperHub. And that is precisely what has happened in Meerstad, an up-and-coming district on the outskirts of Groningen. It is a popular area where people enjoy the open space and greenery, or the newly dug lake Woldmeer.

Over the coming decades, a neighbourhood with 5,000 new apartments will be built here: Meerstad is growing all the time. In view of this forthcoming expansion, the city planners wanted to equip the community with an attractive centre. At the same time, it needed a place where residents can relax, chat and eat – and also do their shopping, of course.

Consequently, a kind of cluster was designed to meet the needs of the residents in this new area. But rather than merely offering various services for the community, the result goes much further in its pursuit of social cohesion.

Market hall as meeting place

The eye-catching project known as SuperHub, designed by the Dutch architectural studio with the original name De Zwarte Hond (“the black dog”), embodies these requirements. It also embraces sustainability and quality of life as central design values.

The way in which we use our time is changing significantly, as is the process of shopping. Although this is now easier due to online and delivery services, our social lives have suffered. Therefore, the SuperHub planners were committed to providing a modern shopping centre with special qualities.

Their aim was to recreate the experience of shopping as something that is personal, sociable and a refreshing alternative. And so the open and expansive building has become a popular meeting place for residents, besides its function as a local supplier.

Future-proof with easy re-use

The building has also been planned for future use and enables alterations and additions. According to the planners, this allows the building to be easily adapted for educational, sports or residential purposes.

In Meerstad, the new SuperHub was a major development as it was also the area’s first major supermarket. Residents can now shop at their local “Jumbo”, a chain that has a 21% market share and is the second largest food retailer in the Netherlands.

Besides the sales space for food, the new project also includes a sushi outlet. Brands Bouw was responsible for implementation on behalf of building contractor MWPO. Retailer Maripaan was in charge of producing the distinctive formula with retail and catering, the supermarket’s look and feel.

Easily reachable

It is immediately clear from the project’s open, friendly architecture that this is an authentic meeting place for the district’s 2,700+ residents. In the north, the building provides Meerstad’s central facilities together with the local school. While in the south, it connects up with the main traffic artery that flows through Meerstad and borders on the new park next to the lake.

Its location at the intersection of important access and recreation routes makes the SuperHub easily reachable from all directions, even by bicycle. Sweeping views of the park and water are enjoyed by guests on the café’s spacious terrace.

Contemporary fusion

De Zwarte Hond was asked to create a multifunctional, adaptable building for the local area. In response, the architects produced a modern fusion of marketplace and shopping centre in their role as social spaces. The SuperHub’s flexible, open layout enables its functions to be reinvented along with the changing needs of the community. In turn, this will prevent the structure from being demolished at a later date. For example, in 20 years’ time it could accommodate a museum or new living space.

De Zwarte Hond and Brands Bouw also emphasize that the building is entirely in keeping with Meerstad’s sustainability goals. Using minimal concrete, they chose wood as the primary construction material in line with circular principles. Besides the SuperHub, De Zwarte Hond has already designed other eye-catching timber projects. One more recent development is Alliander Westpoort situated in Amsterdam’s harbour area, an office and commercial site that celebrates timber construction methods. Its ground plan is based on rhythmic positioning that merges the ensemble into a resilient whole.

This completely revitalized version of a conventional market hall has a spacious, transparent feel. The building is supported by a structure consisting entirely of cross-shaped glued laminated timber pillars and supports. Each pillar changes its shape, from a column into an elegantly curved beam, giving the building a cathedral-like appearance.

Together, the large span and ceiling height of nine metres create an extraordinarily light-flooded space. Additionally, the structure allows the necessary flexibility for future adaptations to floor plan and usage.

Large projecting canopy as sunshade

Projecting more than five metres, the large canopy provides protection against the sun. It also integrates the structure with its elegant pillars and grid-like wooden trusses into the green surrounding environment. The sophisticated construction provides the building with stability. For example, no additional stiffening or bracing is required as protection against gusts of wind.

Energy from solar panels on the roof is used to operate the built-in air treatment system, among other facilities. The greened roof also attracts bees and insects, while the ground storage system for heat and cold creates an optimal and energy-efficient indoor climate.

Skylights allow natural light to enter the centre of the building.

Demountable and earthquake-protected

All sections of the building were prefabricated, which kept construction time within its tight schedule. In addition, the building was designed to withstand vibration from earthquakes. Another strength of this project is that the building can be entirely dismantled and reconstructed at a different site.

And so it is hardly surprising that the SuperHub won first prize from the professional jury and third prize from the public jury of the Groningen Architecture Prize.

Text: Linda Benkö
Translation: Rosemary Bridger-Lippe
Photos: Ronald Tilleman, Ronald Zijlstra