The underground car park Boulevard Zeezijde wins the BNA Best Dutch Building of the Year 2016

The underground car park Boulevard Zeezijde in Katwijk aan Zee is the winner of the BNA Best Dutch Building of the Year. The structure, which is hardly visible from the dunes, was selected from a total of eight nominations. The winner of the public prize this year is also the underground car park in Katwijk aan Zee. BB-Lightconcepts is proud to have provided the lighting in this car park.

A team of architects, urban designers, landscape architects/gardeners and engineers from Royal HaskoningDHV took two years to design and build the car park on behalf of the local authority of Katwijk aan Zee. The car park forms part of the new Dutch practice of 'working with nature', in response to the rising sea levels and the need to protect coastal biodiversity.

The car park is a 'very beautiful object', in the view of the jury, connecting the resort and the sea with its natural look. Both the visible and underground sections of the car park were well designed: the lighting, the contours, the position of the columns; it seems as though every detail has been carefully considered, while the execution is almost flawless. For the jury, this project is proof that with united forces you can achieve more than from separate disciplines, which is just one of the ways in which this project is exemplary.

The underground car park Boulevard Zeezijde is the first car park in the Netherlands which received a certificate for its environment friendly LED-lighting system. In addition, the car park is the first car park in the Netherlands where BB-Lightconcepts combined her LED lighting with a Park Assist system. The Park Assist installation is a parking guidance system which points customers to the free parking spaces which reduces the search traffic. The signaling function works with colours, as the customer wishes. In the underground car park in Katwijk aan Zee means  green available, red occupied, blue disabled and yellow a charging point.