The design for the new Supreme Court of the Netherlands follows two different conceptual principles: a functional one relating to the process of filing a case in the Supreme Court, and an a spatial principal, opening up different parts of the program to a large central circulatory atrium, or to the outside, as appropriate.

The result of these two operations is a series of stacked rings, which are offset and overlap and expand in a variety of different ways, liberating the building from the simplicity of a rectangular box, and the rigidity of stacked floors.

The working environments are designed to be pleasant and of high quality, both in actual offices as well as in the more luxurious common areas, such as the library or restaurant, which provide opportunities for moments of quiet inspiration as well as interaction with colleagues.

The courtrooms are quiet and calmly designed spaces where all ICT technology is concealed in an elegant manner in double skinned walls, decorated with a pattern of relief and perforations. In the foyers opportunities for interaction with the city are created through glazing. The building also responds to the intense media coverage of the Court’s proceedings by the national media, with privacy, security, and access all forming key issues in the design process.