#Museum
A reinforced concrete colossus - iCOON museum
Behind the art museum iCOON and the restaurant Het Jagershuis on the Badweg in Hoek van Holland, many Atlantikwall relics lie hidden beneath the sand. These are the bunkers of the former German heavy anti-aircraft battery Nordmole. Both the museum and the restaurant were once part of this site; today, they are fine examples of adaptive reuse.
There were four heavy anti-aircraft batteries positioned around Hoek van Holland. Batterie Nordmole, equipped with four 10.5 cm anti-aircraft guns in the so-called Voorduin area, was one of them. “Nordmole” is German for “North Pier,” an appropriate name for a bunker complex that literally sat in the corner of Hoek van Holland. To the south lay the Nieuwe Waterweg and to the west, at that time, the North Sea beach. Due to sand replenishment, the coastline now lies almost a kilometer further west.
Walking paths now run through the Voorduin, accessible from several directions. Along the way, you pass the remaining large and small structures of Nordmole. Typical constructions include the fire control post and troop quarters, but also a washroom, a fuel bunker, and a workshop for a carpenter. The four anti-aircraft guns of the battery were each positioned in a concrete emplacement with ammunition niches around the edges for a ready supply of shells. Over the emplacements stood steel domes through which only the barrels protruded, protecting the gunners from bullets and shrapnel. The shells they fired could reach Allied aircraft flying up to ten kilometers high.
After the war, the domes were removed as scrap, and the structures either became buried in sand or were deliberately covered. Today, many concrete remains are visible again, including a complete gun emplacement. Volunteers from the Atlantikwall Museum Hoek van Holland regularly organize guided tours.
The restaurant “Het Jagershuis” served as the canteen for the garrison of the anti-aircraft battery during the war. To its left lies a former German ammunition bunker, specifically designed for storing anti-aircraft ammunition. The standard design measured 15.2 by 23.5 meters, with four large and five smaller storage rooms. With a concrete volume of 1,540 cubic meters and two-meter-thick walls and roof, it formed the main ammunition depot of Nordmole. Today, it houses a museum for minimalist art and design: iCOON. The utilitarian architecture of these reinforced concrete colossi inspired postwar brutalist and minimalist design, making this transformation particularly fitting.