The Regenerative Role of Tectonics: From Post Office to the Utrecht Central Library by Rijnboutt Architects

In 2011, the main post office of the city of Utrecht, at the Neude square, closed to the public after almost a century of service. The building, designed and built by the architect Joseph Crouwel (1885-1962) between 1919 and 1924 and considered a symbol of the city's public life, was named a national monument in 2001[1]. The redevelopment project of the building, which involves its transformation into a public library with shops, restaurants and a bike parking, was entrusted to the Dutch architectural firm Rijnboutt Architects in 2008. The project, an example of successful integration of the characteristics of the original building and its new extension, staged a cultural and technological fusion between history and the 21st century in the heart of the city of Utrecht, providing in a broader perspective, the testimony to how a rigorous consideration of tectonics as the project driving principle, can constitute a worthwhile way of urban regeneration.