Winning competition design: a home for police and community

A police headquarters that balances transparency with structure. Civic in character, rigorous in operation.

POLO Labs has won the competition for the new Damme/Knokke-Heist police headquarters, proposing a building that balances public accessibility with a clear organisational logic.

Set within the fragmented peri-urban landscape outside Knokke, the project is structured by a robust timber canopy that announces the institution from afar and defines a sheltered zone where architecture and landscape meet. Beneath this roof, the building steps down in layered volumes: flexible, multi-pronged floorplates allow departments to operate independently, while generous terraces extend working life outward into the polder.

The ground plane is carefully shaped to organise access and function — from a sunken courtyard for service and police vehicles to a raised public entrance embedded in planting. Inside, spatial sequences connect meeting spaces, offices and a central double-height plaza, creating a shared heart for the different units.