The completion of 5TRACKS has brought a new mixed-use district to Breda, Netherlands, situated directly adjacent to Central Station. This ambitious development was commissioned by Synchroon and J.P. van Eesteren and designed through a collaboration between Shift Architecture Urbanism and Powerhouse Company. The project represents the final piece of a large-scale redevelopment initiative that has transformed a previously overlooked area near the train station into a vibrant urban destination.
The district comprises three distinctive triangular buildings - Platform_A, Platform_B, and Platform_C - that house a comprehensive mix of offices, residential units, and a hotel above an active ground-floor plinth filled with hospitality and commercial facilities. Covering a total area of 51,000 square meters and completed in 2025, the development strengthens Breda's international profile while embodying contemporary urban living principles.
The three iconic monolithic structures define the urban edge along the railway line through strategic positioning. On the city side, the ensemble creates a solid urban front that integrates seamlessly with the adjacent Central Station and courthouse, maintaining appropriate height relationships with the surrounding urban context. On the garden side, the buildings rise in a stepped rhythm, forming a varied backdrop that divides the green heart of 5TRACKS into a series of intimate 'garden rooms.' Generous stairways connect the garden and street levels, while large central atriums serve as meeting places for both visitors and office users.
Each building maintains its own distinct character within a unified architectural family, featuring earthy tones of deep red, soft cream-white, and green-grey. The concrete base façades and window frames follow a sophisticated ton-sur-ton palette, allowing each structure to read as a cohesive sculpture. The façades showcase a distinctive patches pattern, with each section featuring its own unique brickwork style, window sizing, and reveal depth. This layered approach gives the buildings visual complexity while clearly establishing their belonging to one architectural family.
5TRACKS activates the surrounding neighborhood through its strategic combination of housing, offices, hotel accommodations, and commercial amenities that enliven both street and garden frontages. Platform_A includes a welcoming lobby with bistro and terrace, plus a conference center with restaurant facing the garden. Platform_B and Platform_C provide approximately 15,700 square meters of office space arranged around large atriums, topped by 168 residential apartments. These atriums function as 'urban living rooms,' featuring tall glass façades toward both street and garden, skylights, and exterior materials continuing into the inner façades.
The shared inner courtyard serves as an inviting public space for local residents, seamlessly integrating 5TRACKS into the urban fabric. Both interior and exterior spaces are designed to encourage human interaction and community formation. The interior design, developed in collaboration with Dutch Invertuals, creates flexible routing through zones designated for focused work, informal meetings, and relaxed lounge areas. Carpet motifs reference meadows, while sky-blue curtains with cloud prints at seating tiers evoke lightness, and tactile materials stimulate the senses. Throughout the interior spaces, color plays a key role with careful attention to the interplay of material and hue.
Sustainability has served as the backbone of 5TRACKS since the concept phase in 2015. The high-density, inner-city development is rooted in both technical and organizational principles, incorporating strategies for spatial flexibility and adaptability, community-forming spaces, and gardens that enhance biodiversity. The open framework and strategically placed cores ensure the project can evolve with future needs and changing urban requirements.
This sustainable vision extends comprehensively from architecture to materiality and landscape design. The façades utilize recycled brick slips from Front materials, reducing construction waste by an impressive 385,000 kilograms. Each brick is precisely cut into four thin slips, with both smooth exterior and raw sawn sides visible, creating rich layered textures. Applied in various brickwork patterns, this technique adds crucial 'mid-scale' detail to the ensemble. Above the underground parking garage, the park is constructed over a retention roof capable of capturing 400,000 liters of rainwater, integrating water management directly into the architecture while relieving Breda's infrastructure during heavy rainfall events.
Advanced energy systems further reinforce the sustainable foundation. A sophisticated geothermal energy storage system provides heating and cooling for apartments, offices, and hotel facilities, drawing power partly from ground sources and partly from outside air. Rooftop solar panels generate renewable electricity, supporting energy supply for shared facilities and strengthening the project's sustainable infrastructure. The offices achieve Paris Proof certification, aligning with Paris Climate Agreement standards by drastically reducing energy consumption and staying within CO₂ budgets.
Equally important is the project's focus on human well-being, reflected in its WELL Platinum certification achieved through careful attention to air quality, water systems, lighting, nourishment, vitality, comfort, and mental wellness. By uniting Paris Proof environmental performance with WELL Platinum design quality, 5TRACKS establishes a new standard for future-proof districts in urban hearts, demonstrating how sustainable development can enhance both environmental responsibility and human quality of life in dense city centers.
