Science Park Amsterdam is an international research center with a unified urban environment, including about 500 thousand m2 of office buildings, laboratories, educational buildings, hotels, conference centers, sports and cultural institutions, restaurants and housing, as well as landscaping and public areas. The college is being built in the Watergrafsmeer quarter, next to the residential building of the old farm "Anna Huve". Together they form the entrance to the Science Park from the city and the new station. Mecano designed the building in accordance with the logic of its historical neighbor, in contrast to the rest of the architecture of the park, which, despite the proximity of the center of Amsterdam with predominantly 17th century buildings, looks very modern.
The volume is formed by eight "fused" traditional Dutch houses with sloping triangular roofs, two for each facade. The real roof hidden behind the "tongs" is much more intricate and broken than it seems from the outside. Spacious rooms are formed under it, which are used for classrooms and a library. The smooth facades, clad with steel panels, are cut through by an asymmetrical grid of vertical windows, through which abundant daylight enters the auditorium. The entrance zone is formed by cutting the main volume, from which a rectangle seems to be taken out: the resulting "visor" is placed on round supports.
Surrounded by other educational and research institutions, the college receives a particularly nourishing scientific environment for the "circulation" of ideas and the members of the academic community themselves. This environment is maintained inside the building, where wide staircases serve as a meeting place and communication between students and teachers.
The college building is designed with green architecture in mind, with optimal relationships between walls and floors, as well as between open and closed surfaces on the façade, to protect against overheating and provide natural light. Most of the roof is covered with moss, which provides insulation and traps rainwater. The building also stores and stores heat and is equipped with motion and daylight sensors.
N. K.
