Het Loo Palace - Valstar Simonis

Objective OF THIS PROJECT

The project consists of a single complex that houses one of our national museums, the former Royal Palace. Paleis Het Loo has been renovated and expanded to better fulfill its role and mission in the future: a growing number of visitors, more accessible and more space for exhibitions without altering the appearance of the palace. Therefore, the former Royal Palace underwent a major renovation and a major underground expansion. On April 21, 2023, the renovated Palace was opened by King Willem-Alexander.

Apeldoorn

Paleis Het Loo Foundation

KAAN architects

23.502 m2

Sustainable while preserving monumental elements

Valstar Simonis was commissioned to advise on all engineering services (installations, building physics, fire safety and structures). For this assignment 'Team Valstar' was formed, a team consisting of DGMR, WSP and Valstar Simonis. Within Team Valstar, each company brought its own experience, quality and expertise to the project. The three parties form a close-knit team that presents itself with one face and together guarantees added value and higher quality to the final product. On May 16, 2023, the three parties organized a festive event to introduce relations to the renovated Palace.

The plans pay much attention to sustainability. The ambition of the client and the project team is to achieve BREEAM Excellent certification.

Our assignment

For Paleis het Loo we designed a high-quality building with a healthy, pleasant indoor climate suitable for the art collection, taking into account the prevailing monumental requirements of the old building from 1684. The basic design also includes a central building energy plant for both the electrical and mechanical systems. Goals around sustainability, central generation and aesthetic requirements, have been maintained.

The basic design includes the following:

Heat and cold generation using a soil storage system;
Museum climate in old and new rooms, as well as in the group room;
Few to no sharp corners in the air duct system: no accumulation of dirt and also sufficient inspection hatches for easy cleaning;
Installations not in sight and preservation of characteristic and monumental elements;
Special finishing of sanitary appliances to make cleaning easier;
Energy recovery from ventilation air; both cold (summer) and heat (winter);
Fully programmable Building Management System (BMS), in which, for example, different operating times of different building parts can be taken into account;
Maintenance-friendly, easily accessible and exchangeable components;
Pumps and fans, equipped with high-efficiency electric motors;
LED-lighting;
Switching of lighting based on presence and daylight.

Photos / images: KAAN architecten / Valstar Simonis

The basic design includes the following:

Heat and cold generation using a soil storage system;
Museum climate in old and new rooms, as well as in the group room;
Few to no sharp corners in the air duct system: no accumulation of dirt and also sufficient inspection hatches for easy cleaning;
Installations not in sight and preservation of characteristic and monumental elements;
Special finishing of sanitary appliances to make cleaning easier;
Energy recovery from ventilation air; both cold (summer) and heat (winter);
Fully programmable Building Management System (BMS), in which, for example, different operating times of different building parts can be taken into account;
Maintenance-friendly, easily accessible and exchangeable components;
Pumps and fans, equipped with high-efficiency electric motors;
LED-lighting;
Switching of lighting based on presence and daylight.