The complex with a total area of 11 thousand m2 was built on the campus of the Wageningen University and includes several buildings. The main building housed laboratories, offices, a restaurant and a conference room, separate volumes were erected for the departments of zoology and botany, and experimental greenhouses and ponds were created between them.
The architectural image of the main building of the institute is based on a combination of two contrasting volumes: a horizontally oriented slab and a cube placed exactly in the center of it. The lower part of the complex includes two fully glazed floors, while the upper is a square volume lined with wooden slats. On the first two floors, along the outer perimeter of the building, laboratories are located, for the full functioning of which the maximum amount of daylight is needed, and in the center are the rooms, on the contrary, in need of darkening. The central volume with three skylights on the flat roof serves as a source of sunlight for the offices.
The complex was built using fully recyclable materials and the most advanced energy efficiency technologies, and its design is based on the cradle-to-cradle principle, which provides for the operation of the facility without harming the environment and the possibility of its complete disposal. In particular, the building frame is made of concrete, which does not contain any harmful impurities, solvents and artificial sealants. All other materials used are also certified to be free of vinyl chloride, and the wood used in the project complies with the FSC standard.
Thus, designed to help improve the environmental situation in the world, the institute began fulfilling its mission with the construction of a building that is absolutely safe for nature.
A. M.
