Maakhaven is more than a collective of companies. It hosts a network of artists and craftsmen. Maakhaven is a culture factory that is open to all creative disciplines, because we see power in the addition and the cross-overs of disciplines.



Maakhaven is a sustainable and self-sufficient building where the users themselves do the maintenance work in the building and design their own work spaces. Even though the amount of the work spaces has increased, the open structure within the architecture of the building has remained. It naturally invites collaboration and the exchange of ideas while casually visiting each others work spaces.



We want to strengthen the potential of Maakhaven by solidifying and improving the (internal) developments of the past decade. We want to welcome more creative entrepreneurs, grow our network and improve our sustainability. We also want to become more attractive for investors and become more meaningful in this quickly developing part of the city.

‘In 1928, the municipality of the Hague decided to build an Oil Port in Laakhaven which ended the unsafe practice of storing oil in the inner city. Various oil companies settled in the direct surroundings of the port and along the nearby situated Calandkade.


One of the first companies to be established there was the Batavian Oil Company, later known as Shell. In 1929 they handed in their plans to build a central work space and a stock room at the water side where they would be able to maintain the quickly growing arsenal of petrol pumps and their vehicle fleet, such as tankers, airport- and fuel-cars.

From an architectural point of view the the open structure, the large hall with interlinked shed roofs consisting of a riveted metal construction with coffered concrete roofing sheets, a phenomenon that was still a new for that time, are remarkable features of the building.
The design was by the architect J.D. Postma whose bureau developed into one of the largest in The Netherlands after the war, specialised in industrial complexes.

The building marks the transition from The Batavian Oil Company to the still The Hague based multinational Shell.


Both the SHIE (The Hague Industrial Heritage Foundation) and the Monument Platform unanimously agree that the building is of great significance as The Hague industrial heritage and that it has cultural-historical value.