Stadsbaantunnel | Leidsche Rijn Centrum

Design – realisation: 2012-2015

Design: Tunnel

Location: 52.094704°, 5.069791°

Client: Projectbureau Leidsche Rijn & Utrecht Local Authority

Team: Jo Coenen | Annebregje Snijders | Willem Lucassen
 

Technical tour de force

An important part of ‘Leidsche Rijn Centrum’ is the ‘Stadsbaantunnel’. This large-scale construction is located directly next to the A2 tunnel entrance. Apart from the destination traffic that runs through it, the underground supply of the main shopping area will have a separate exit in this tunnel too. The tunnel is a technical tour de force and the first tunnel in the Netherlands that allows for building on top of it. Located right next to the existing A2 tunnel, the tunnel is 22 meters wide and 600 meters long with two two-lane roads. Where about 500 meters of it are completely covered, the remaining 100 meter of the tunnel’s south entrance are covered by a pergola.

JCAU made the design for the tunnel’s service building and for the pergola. The main control and monitoring building, together with the pergola, has an urban planning function being part of the urban fabric around the ‘Berlijnplein’. Above the closed plinth – decorated with tiles -, the pergola and the facade of the service building form a strong unity. The complex is designed with a construction of architectural concrete elements and ceramic green lamellas between the columns of the service building. The circular shell-shaped roof with copper cladding marks the head of the building.