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Coulissen West Breda Buildings News

5TRACKS Development in The Netherlands design by Shift architecture urbanism & Powerhouse Company.

Updated 9 September 2025

Design: Shift architecture urbanism & Powerhouse Company

Location: Stationslaan, Breda, The Netherlands

Photos: Sebastian van Damme

5TRACKS Coulissen, West Breda homes

With the completion of 5TRACKS, Breda gained a new mixed-use district right next to Central Station, commissioned by Synchroon and J.P. van Eesteren and designed by Shift architecture urbanism and Powerhouse Company. In three expressive buildings, offices, housing, and a hotel come together above a lively plinth filled with hospitality and commercial facilities – marking the final piece in a large-scale redevelopment that transforms this previously overlooked area near the train station. 5TRACKS embodies contemporary urban living while strengthening Breda’s international standing.

Shift architecture urbanism and Powerhouse Company deliver a new mixed-use district in Breda, the Netherlands.

5TRACKS transforms train station district into a vibrant hub for contemporary urban living

Spatial positioning
The three iconic, triangular monoliths Platform_A, Platform_B, and Platform_C define the urban edge along the railway. On the city side, the ensemble creates a solid urban front that integrates naturally with the adjacent Central Station and courthouse while aligning in height with its urban context. On the garden side, the buildings rise in a stepped rhythm, forming a varied backdrop that breaks the green heart of 5TRACKS into a series of ‘garden rooms’. Generous stairways connect garden and street, while the large central atriums serve as meeting places for both visitors and office users.

‘5TRACKS consists of three strong, elegant, and practical buildings, where the public functions have been expressed in a vivid and thoughtful way.’ – Stefan Prins, partner architect Powerhouse Company

Unified, yet unique
Each building is characterized by a distinct tone within one color family, featuring earthy tones of deep red, soft cream-white and green-grey. The concrete base façades and window frames follow a ton-sur-ton palette, allowing each structure to read as a cohesive sculpture. The façades feature a patches pattern, each with its own brickwork style, window size, and reveal depth. This approach gives the buildings a layered appearance, while still clearly belonging to one architectural family.

‘The mix of materials within one color range, and the patchwork façade design give 5TRACKS a refined and nuanced presence.’
Thijs van Bijsterveldt, partner architect Shift architecture urbanism

Activating collective functions
5TRACKS enlivens the neighborhood by offering a combination of housing, offices, a hotel, and commercial amenities that activate both the street and garden sides. Platform_A includes a lobby with a bistro and terrace, as well as a conference center with a restaurant facing the garden. Platform_B and Platform_C offer approximately 15,700 m² of office space arranged around large atriums, topped by 168 apartments. These atriums, featuring tall glass façades towards the street and the garden, skylights, and the exterior materials continuing in the inner façades, function as ‘urban living rooms’. The shared inner courtyard serves as a welcoming public space for the city’s locals, seamlessly integrating 5TRACKS into the urban fabric. The design of both interior and exterior spaces encourages human interaction, thereby allowing communities to form.

Interior for connection
The interior design, in collaboration with Dutch Invertuals, creates a flexible route through zones for focus, informal meetings, and relaxed lounge areas. Carpet motifs refer to meadows, sky-blue curtains with cloud prints at the seating tiers evoke lightness, and tactile materials stimulate the senses. Throughout the interior, color plays a key role, with careful attention given to the interplay of material and hue.

Sustainability as a design core
The high-density, inner-city development is rooted in both technical and organizational principles: strategies for spatial flexibility and adaptability, community-forming spaces, and a garden that enhances biodiversity. Its open framework and strategically placed cores ensure that the project can evolve with future needs.

This sustainable vision extends from architecture to materiality and landscape. The façades are built using recycled brick slips from FrontⓇ materials, reducing construction waste by 385,000 kilograms. Each brick is cut into four thin slips, with both the smooth exterior and raw sawn side visible, creating a layered texture. Applied in a variety of brickwork patterns, this adds a ‘mid-scale’ detail to the ensemble.

Paris Proof and WELL Platinum
At 5TRACKS, the offices embody both environmental responsibility and human well-being. They are Paris Proof, aligning with the Paris Climate Agreement by drastically reducing energy use and staying within the CO₂ budget. Just as importantly, they provide spaces that actively enhance the health and comfort of residents, users, and visitors. This is reflected in the WELL Platinum certification, achieved through careful attention to air, water, light, nourishment, vitality, comfort, and mind. By uniting Paris Proof performance with WELL Platinum design quality, 5TRACKS sets a new standard for future-proof districts in the heart of the city.

Coulissen West Breda, The Netherlands – Building Information

Landschapsarchitect CULD
Losse interieurelementen Dutch Invertuals
Vaste interieurelementen Shift architecture urbanism and
Powerhouse Company – https://www.powerhouse-company.com/
Aannemer J.P. van Eesteren
Adviseur Constructie IMd Raadgevende Ingenieurs
Advies installaties Techniplan
Advies bouwfysica en brand LBP Sight
Bouwkundig tekenwerk VDNDP
Branding identity Edhv.

Timeline: 2021 – 2025
Size: 51,000 sqm GFA
Client: Development partnership Synchroon and J.P. van Eesteren

Photography: Sebastian van Damme

Powerhouse Company

Previously on e-architect:

15 July 2016

5TRACKS Coulissen West Breda Buildings

‘5 Tracks’ By Shift Architecture Urbanism &powerhouse Company Wins Tender Coulissen West

Shift architecture urbanism and Powerhouse Company win the tender for Coulissen West, the last piece of the large urban development West of Breda Central Station. The dense proposal mixes 40.000m2 of flexible work-meeting spaces, a wide array of apartment types, services and restaurants. The project, titled 5TRACKS is the product of a collaboration with the developers team SYNCHROON, J.P. van Eesteren and ERA Contour and landscape architect CULD.

View from the Stationslaan towards the Coulissenpark:

The 5TRACKS ensemble of 3 buildings was designed with 2 identities: one facing the city and the other the railway zone. Along the Stationslaan, the ensemble links the new station with the new court building with a continuous facade that relates in scale, material and height to the adjacent neighborhood of Belcrum. Along the train tracks, the sequence of higher triangular buildings frame a park that functions as a green entrance into Breda for the (train) passengers.

Situation, between Breda Cental station and the Courthouse:

The name 5TRACKS refers to the mix of 5 different programs contained in the 40.000 m2: work spaces, accommodations, eat & meet, services and the park. The selection committee speaks of a ‘rich and innovative concept derived from the different target groups with clear added value for the station district and the city of Breda. The project fosters-foresees future quality through growth opportunity, flexibility and the interaction between the different functions.

Public atria and generous staircases connect the street and the park:

The design emerged from the focus on the connection between the city and the park. Each space between the buildings link the street and the gardens with a generous varied landscaped staircase. Each building contains a double height central interior spaces, a semi-public collective heart that plays an essential role in the connection between city, building and park.

Flexible office floor are wrapped around the collective spaces, generating maximum interaction between the different companies. The housing volumes are designed as V-shaped blocks that profit from the sun orientation and the view towards the historic centre of Breda. The selection committee appreciates the connection of the design with the urban concept of the municipality and praises the way in which the park, the in-between zones and the central interior spaces are activated by the attractive public program.

Public living room for both inhabitants and offices:

ABOUT SHIFT ARCHITECTURE URBANISM
Shift architecture urbanism was founded in 2005 by Harm Timmermans (1975, NL) and Oana Rades (1977, RO). In 2010 Thijs van Bijsterveldt (1981, NL) joined as third partner. Shift architecture urbanism is a Rotterdam based design office for architecture and urbanism that combines experiment and originality with skill and precision. In all of the projects a conceptual clarity is combined with specific and outspoken designs.

ABOUT POWERHOUSE COMPANY

Powerhouse Company was founded by Nanne de Ru (1976, the Netherlands) and Charles Bessard (1970, France) in 2005. The practice has offices in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Copenhagen, Denmark, and Beijing, China, and works on various commissions that range from furniture design to architecture, planning and research.

5TRACKS Coulissen in West Breda – Building Information

Location: Breda, the Netherlands
Size: 40.000 sqm
Architects: Shift architecture urbanism & Powerhouse Company
Landschap architect: CULD
Development: SYNCHROON, J.P. van Eesteren and ERA Contour

View from the Stationslaan towards the Coulissenpark:

Coulissen West Breda images by MIR and Piktorial

Powerhouse Company

SHIFT ARCHITECTURE URBANISM www.shift-au.com

POWERHOUSE COMPANY www.powerhouse-company.com

Location: Breda, Netherlands.

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