New Nor wins audience award Reynaers Project Prize 2023

From crunching iron to screaming guitars. Last year, pop venue the Nieuwe Nor in Heerlen already won the prize for the best pop venue in Limburg. The project may now also call itself audience winner of the Reynaers Project Prize 2023.

"A gem of urban planning incorporation," said the expert jury

In April, a professional expert jury nominated the project as one of four finalists. Then the public could vote for their favorite for four weeks. In the end, the Nieuwe Nor came out on top with 48% of the votes. The public's enthusiasm was shared by the professional jury.

From the jury report, "The (new) facade of the pop house De Nieuwe Nor consists of a classic brick building and a robust modern facade of corten steel. The older facade is closed and shows rich ornamentation. The new facade is abstract and gives a view of what is happening inside the building. The jury considers it a gem of urban integration, precisely because of the contrast in materials while maintaining (or even improving) the rhythm of the street. The curtain wall in the new section defines the experience of the building both in the exterior and the interior. The jury finds it a fascinating project, precisely because the two facades are each other's opposites: the whole turns out to be a magnet."

Award ceremony in Antwerp

On Oct. 9 and 10, 2023, the award ceremony took place at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. At a special award ceremony in Antwerp, Rob Meurders and Pieter de Ruijter were awarded of architecture firm diederendirrix and Daniëlle Wolters and Leon Wolters of facade builder ASW Gevelbouw surprised with the results. The winning architect and facade builder each received 2,500.00 euros. By agreement, the winner may donate that same amount to a good architectural cause. In this way, passion for architecture is used for a social purpose. 

The New Nor was one of four finalists for the Reynaers Project Prize. The other finalists were: ASML Building 3 in Veldhoven, Villa Trompenberg in Hilversum and The Hooch in Amsterdam.

Design assignment as a gift

"A gift," is how architect Rob Meurders of diederendirrix describes this design assignment for the expansion of the pop venue. "I know Heerlen well, am a pop lover and also an architect. The past is not foreign to me either. History is never far away here. I wanted to make something that relates to all those storylines. The people of Heerlen had to love this new building."

The Reynaers Project Prize with attention to architecture in the podcast, film recordings and everything around it help to emancipate architecture. It's great to see that people, even those a little further away from architecture, are getting more involved because of it.

Rob Meurders
Architect diederendirrix

Meurders therefore deliberately chose a generous window in this location. "I didn't want to build an empty showcase. It should not only be attractive when there is a performance. During the day it should blend in with the historic streetscape without being too much of a presence. The facade faces this courtyard and also has the same dimensions in terms of width. This creates a unity. From inside, you have a view of modern graffiti art with the medieval tower of the Landsfort Herle in the background. From the outside you can see that the height of the frame keeps pace with the ornamental facade of the old building on the right. In this facade, the expression of the steelwork is very important. This means that the system behind it should be as minimal as possible. In consultation with ASW Gevelbouw, we chose the ConceptSystem 77 profile from Reynaers Aluminium."

Leon Wolters, director ASW Gevelbouw adds: "The special feature of this project is that we chose to convert the project from steel to aluminum. This with a specifically customized solution for the cladding. This made it possible to realize this project within the budget."

A good way to make a building in my view is through good cooperation. The New Nor is a successful example of this, in which we gave each other something, we consulted well, respected each other's qualities and kept the same goal in mind.

Leon Wolters
ASW Facade Construction

Want to know more about the New Nor?

Read the article about the New Nor or listen to the Architect's vision in the episode of Profile the podcast.Read more about the New NorListen to the podcast about the New Nor