26 HU UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES, UTRECHT
“The university wanted to demonstrate what they are doing, both internally and externally – one of the main elements of the brief was that their core activities were visible” Pim Ijsendoorn, schmidt/hammer/lassen
and panels is broken up intermittently with larger spaces of continuous cladding in a single colour. Additionally, the two main lecture halls jut out from the exterior into the courtyard, clearly identifiable from the building’s exterior because of the step floor cantilevered from the wall. The building’s footprint being a priority, no space has been wasted beneath, and so bicycle and moped parking have been placed under the stairs. On the inside of the lecture halls, the architects have designed a large retractable wall that can connect the spaces to the main entrance hall.
“The university wanted to demonstrate what they are doing, both internally and externally, and one of the main elements of the brief was that their core activities be visible,” said Pim Ijsendoorn, who is associate/project manager at SHL. “They wanted to showcase that they are an educational establishment,” he says, “so it is not hidden.”
Another example of the open nature of the site is that there is no access control in the building, so visitors from outside are able to enter the university. “You can go in, buy a coffee, go up to the fourth floor and sit at one of the workstations around the
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atrium, and there’s nothing stopping you from doing that. They want it to be open to the world, to embrace the community, and enhance it.”
Heading in
The main entrance into the facility is on the north side of the building, a short distance from a tram line which has recently added a dedicated stop for the campus. Visitors can enter the building through a set of large revolving doors and head towards the information desk at the front of the facility, with glazed curtain walling either side providing further porosity to the outside world. “We have only used closed facades were we needed to,” says Pim. “That means that when you are inside there is limited obstruction to what’s happening outside, and also when you are outside, you can see what’s happening inside.” Passing the information desk, visitors then enter a large atrium, towards the centre of which is the ground floor’s escalator, one of several built on every other floor of the building. Around the atrium, and throughout the
project, the interior design in the main features a combination of off-whites,
ADF APRIL 2019
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