Justice Office Zaanstad / Studio PROTOTYPE

Architects: Studio PROTOTYPE
Area: 7,650 m²
Year: 2025
Photography: Jeroen Musch
Lead Architects: Jeroen Steenvoorden, Jeroen Spee, Diederik Hermens
Architects Team: Alicja Bedkowska, Rodolfo Siccardi, Nicolò Franchetto, Ana Vallés González de Quedevo, Wiktoria Matysiak
Contractor and Construction Management: BINX Smartility West
Landscape Design: Rob van Dijk in collaboration with Donker Design
Façade Co-Architect: ArchiTech Company
Technical Support: VDNDP
Client: Dutch Government Building Agency
Location: Zaanstad
Country: The Netherlands

The Justice Office Zaanstad by Studio PROTOTYPE establishes a new standard for sustainable public architecture in the Netherlands. Completed in 2025, the 7,650-square-meter complex was commissioned by the Dutch Government Building Agency and executed by BINX Smartility West. It houses offices, training spaces, and justice-related facilities for the Custodial Institutions Agency, forming an integrated architectural and landscape ensemble. The project’s structural system is primarily composed of cross-laminated timber, marking the largest CLT application ever realized for a Dutch government agency. Studio PROTOTYPE, in collaboration with ArchiTech Company, developed a parametric louvered façade that optimizes daylight, comfort, and energy efficiency while maintaining privacy. With a design that meets Paris Proof standards, the project achieves a balance between security and openness, emphasizing light, nature, and sustainable materials as instruments of transparency within the justice system.

In the Justice Office in Zaanstad project, we were involved from the landscape to the smallest interior detail. For the users, it is a highly functional building — its architecture seems almost a natural consequence of that — yet it is a layered composition in which every material and detail serves both the functional logic and the spatial, human experience.
Interview with Jeroen Steenvoorden of PROTOTYPE

Justice office zaanstad / studio prototype

Studio PROTOTYPE’s Justice Office Zaanstad demonstrates how contemporary judicial architecture can reconcile environmental performance with human-centered design. The complex was commissioned by the Dutch Government Building Agency to accommodate a branch of the Custodial Institutions Agency, providing offices, meeting rooms, and training facilities in a secure yet welcoming environment. The architects responded to this dual demand for protection and openness with a composition rooted in material honesty and spatial clarity.

The project’s defining structural gesture is its use of cross-laminated timber, which forms the building’s main framework. This timber system not only ensures a reduced carbon footprint but also establishes a warm, tactile quality within spaces that are traditionally austere. As the largest CLT construction realized to date for a Dutch government institution, the Justice Office Zaanstad serves as a precedent for integrating biobased materials into state architecture on a significant scale.

In developing the building’s exterior identity, Studio PROTOTYPE collaborated with ArchiTech Company on a parametrically optimized façade. This louvered skin functions as both a climatic filter and a symbolic threshold, mediating between the interior’s openness and the institution’s security requirements. The precise orientation and spacing of each louver were digitally calibrated to balance privacy, daylight admission, and solar control, ensuring comfort while minimizing energy consumption.

The energy strategy extends beyond façade design to encompass the entire building system. Together with technical partners BINX Smartility West and VDNDP, the architects implemented integrated building technologies that allow the complex to produce energy and comply with Paris Proof sustainability standards. This holistic approach reflects a shift in public architecture toward measurable performance and environmental accountability.

Within its robust perimeter, the spatial organization is defined by three light courts that introduce natural illumination deep into the interior. These courtyards act as orientation anchors and visual relief points, creating a sense of openness in contrast to the building’s secure functions. They also structure the internal circulation, allowing different programmatic zones—administrative, educational, and support—to remain distinct yet visually interconnected.

Daylight, transparency, and greenery are central to the experience of the interior spaces. The wooden structure and neutral finishes evoke calm and warmth, while the visual connections to the courtyards promote wellbeing and concentration. This emphasis on daylight not only supports user comfort but also symbolizes the role of justice as an institution that values clarity and openness.

The relationship between the architecture and its setting was carefully composed to reinforce this ethos. Located in Westzaan, the complex occupies a site within the characteristic peat polder landscape. Landscape designer Rob van Dijk, working with Donker Design, conceived a nature-inclusive environment that integrates native plant species and resilient water systems. The outdoor areas link the building to its ecological context while supporting biodiversity and climate adaptation.

Materiality further strengthens the dialogue between building and landscape. The silver-grey cladding reflects the changing tones of the nearby riverbank, softening the building’s visual presence. The interplay of light and shadow across the louvered façade, combined with the layered rhythm of the timber frame, lends the complex a restrained yet dynamic expression that evolves with the surrounding environment.

Justice Office Zaanstad stands as a clear statement about the future of civic architecture. Through its synthesis of sustainable structure, technological precision, and contextual sensitivity, the project transcends the conventions of institutional design. Studio PROTOTYPE’s work demonstrates that government buildings can embody transparency, efficiency, and ecological awareness—values that resonate with both users and the wider public.