A platform for meeting, interchange and inspiration

The brief for this new faculty building at the University of Amsterdam was to design a building to house an extensive programme with lecture rooms, offices and laboratories, and above all a new academic environment, open and with no back rooms, a platform for meeting, interchange and inspiration.

Rudy Uytenhaak?s office won the design competition organized by the university. The university decided, however, to divide the project among the three architectural offices who had initially competed against each other. The faculty is thus composed of three sections, each with its own architectural aura. Rudy Uytenhaak acted as coordinating architect.

The three elongated sections stand parallel to each other. The middle and largest section (section C) was designed by Rudy Uytenhaak and contains a large central void with the main entrance, a lecture hall and offices. The laboratories, together with the study landscape, the library and a cafeteria are housed in the two narrower and taller wings. Between these sections spacious voids provide daylighting and diagonal sight lines.

The middle section is built around two large rectangular inner courtyards. This structure?s end elevations project beyond the wings. Because this section is also raised here, there is a direct view into the inner courtyards from the surrounding area. The elevation is characterized by an irregular pattern of glass panels and narrow strips of travertine that separate the storeys. Wood accents, such as the stair handrails and the cladding of the suspended lecture hall, determine the ambience in the predominantly white interior.

Laboratory wing A (Architectuurstudio HH) links in with Uytenhaak?s design and use of materials. There is abundant space for informal meetings. The central element is the bold steel staircase that zigzags through the void. Wing B (Meyer and Van Schooten) is the most eye-catching section with its purple-black polyester exterior elevation, which continues inside, right into the void. Cantilevered terraces and bright yellow staircases set the tone in this intermediate space. (ARCAM/BU)