Hunter Douglas delivers aluminium panel ceiling for the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague

The building of the new International Criminal Court in The Hague was a massive undertaking – and Hunter Douglas played a significant role in its creation.

The 56,000m2 complex cost €204 million and for architect Bjarne Hammer, of Denmark’s renowned agency Schmidt, Hammer, Lassen Architects, creating a huge building of global significance that represents 124 member states came with multiple challenges.

The building had to be impressive and grandiose but it was imperative that it related to humans and the human scale. It had to express the essence of democratic architecture – something that the Hunter Douglas ceiling clearly demonstrates.

“The ceiling connects spaces and creates a sense of sameness throughout the building,” explains Hammer,”because the same ceiling is suspended everywhere: where the suspects’ reside, where the lawyers work and in the office spaces.”

Hunter Douglas was commissioned by the Danish agency to manufacture 29,000m2 of slim aluminium ceiling panels, which are perforated and inlaid with acoustic mats.

Because the same “abstract but neutral” panels are fitted throughout the building, they provide “a strong design statement”, says Hammer. The sheer expanse also provides a fine balance to the building’s bold interior.

Hammer adds that the crisp, anthracite ceiling is: “...an important element in the game of light and shadow that is played in the building. The ceiling enables people to find their way around the building in a natural, intuitive way.”

He had a practical reason for choosing panelling the ceiling.

“It's an open ceiling, which gives an architect extra room to work with,” he explains. “For example, you can include the metres between the ceiling and the plenum space room when calculating air quality. And in the same space, you can neatly tuck away the air quality and fire safety installations.”

The ceiling installation was tailored to meet the needs of a flexible interior space – one of the requirements in the brief was that the rooms in the building can be partitioned.

Project leader John Balvert of Verwol Complete Interieurrealisatie, in Opmeer, the Netherlands, explains that the ceiling panels were designed to be interchangeable.

“Walls can be taken down or moved without re-drilling or dismantling the suspension construction,” he reveals. “In each new setup, the panels can easily be aligned with the position of the new wall.”

The sustainable quality of aluminium was another important factor in choosing the Hunter Douglas panels.

Because the ICC’s offices will be lit permanently with LED-lighting, 100,000 LED lamps have been integrated in the perforated panels, maintaining the ceiling's clean look.