Neushoorn Interior

The new music stage Neushoorn forms the cultural focus, comprising the popular music venue De Neushoorn (The Rhinoceros) and D’Drive, the creative teaching branch of the Friesland College. The building expresses the inherent dynamics of these functions. The pop and youth culture is accessible and dynamic, and the music venue is intended to facilitate meetings and the exchange of ideas. This means that visibility and flexibility are prerequisites. It is an urban tissue that includes several different activities at the same time.

The layout of Neushoorn provides for large-scale venues as well as small-scale areas, with two stages, a café, rehearsal and cultural production facilities, workshop studios, and teaching facilities for the practical curriculum of the Friesland College. Good logistics in a music venue dictate that the public and the backstage area be kept well separated. This is why all the publicly accessible areas are directly connected to the main entrance and the ground floor.

The interior of the public areas is clear and easy to read, offering both snug spots and a warm atmosphere. The floors and ceilings colours are mostly neutral in colour. The angled walls create a great sense of space and are finished with the same variety of surface textures as the outside of the building, ranging from wooden strips in various dimensions and types of timber, to textured concrete and the vividly flamed patina of Corten steel.

The design of the Friesland College theory classrooms is more restrained, with flat walls and glass and meranti timber partitions with bamboo doors. They are located on the upper floors and connected to the ‘Nieuwe Steeg’ (New Lane) which forms the main access route. A glass roof supported by meranti timber beams finished with yellow pigment lets daylight into the deepest parts of the ‘Nieuwe Steeg’. The transparent intermediate zone with the study landscape establishes a coherent spatial and functional link and offers short connections between the stages, studios, dressing rooms, teaching facilities and offices.

The whole building is designed to facilitate intensive use and stimulate creativity. It was purposely created as a rough medley of existing and reused elements and a rich variety of shapes and materials. Special details inside the building include the remains of demolished buildings and samples of graffiti on reused brick walls. The design stimulates the senses and leaves room for individual expression. Walls offer space for personal additions, furniture can be moved around, and the mood lighting scheme can be altered, making for an exceptionally lively building.

The fixed interior elements are in sync with the building’s liveliness. The ticket office blends into the cloakroom desk, the café and venues offer a variety of bars, the teachers’ offices and quiet work areas in the open-plan office feature strips of natural and caramel-coloured bamboo and meranti with yellow pigment, integrating these elements with the timber walls throughout the building.
The basic lighting scheme is complemented by a variety of specific mood lighting options according to the location and use of each area. This creates lighting accents, enhancing visibility from outside and inviting passers-by to pop in and get a taste of this creative hotspot in the city of Leeuwarden.