Erasmus University Medical Center, or Erasmus MC, as it is most often called in Rotterdam itself, is one of the largest hospitals in the Netherlands and throughout Europe. Since 2012, it has occupied a whole complex of buildings in the southern part of central Rotterdam, among which two high-rise buildings with snow-white facades stand out. These verticals are located in the depths of the site, and low-rise volumes are placed along its perimeter, the last of which was the Educational Center, designed by the Claus en Kaan bureau.
The idea of creating a modern educational center came from the management of Erasmus MC at a time when the reconstruction was already in full swing, so they decided to use one of the courtyards of the complex for its construction. Located on the stylobate, it was practically not used in any way, and its most spectacular architectural element was the staircase boxes of one of the old buildings of the medical center. In plan, this space had a triangular shape, since it was cut off from the city by a diagonal building of conference halls. Claus en Kaan proposed to include the latter in the new building: the halls were radically modernized, the building itself was built on both sides, but its dynamic diagonal is easy to read in the structure of the center. This is especially noticeable from the upper floors of Erasmus MC: the openwork roof of the educational center is crossed by a continuous wide "beam", which, in addition, is above it by a whole floor.
The part of the building that "flies out" beyond the diagonal actually fixes the angle of the site, bordering in this place with the park zone. And, although the educational center is raised on a stylobate, the architects interpreted it as a kind of gateway to the “city of medicine”. In an initially rectangular volume, they cut off the corner, and the cut is completely glazed, slightly drowning it into the building, due to which a kind of entrance portal appears - in fact, just a stained-glass window, the shape of which perfectly emphasizes the openness and accessibility of the center.
This is exactly how it was conceived: this center should remove the barriers that exist in the modern system of medical care. Doctors from different departments can meet there and discuss professional issues, as well as get acquainted with new books and magazines, and students can attend their lectures and master classes. The typology of the former courtyard is reflected in the structure of the new center: the so-called "Educational Square", a multi-colored atrium, one of the walls of which is completely occupied with shelves with books, has become the central public space here. The length of the book wall is more than 35 meters, the height is 11 meters, and if you line up all the publications presented here in one row, its length will exceed 2 km. All conditions have been created for comfortable reading of books and magazines: in the space of the atrium there were places for both secluded studies and for communication of small research groups.
The architecture of the educational center, as well as its interior, is dominated by white, the "hospital" coldness of which is softened by natural wood and bright red accents in the form of carpets and furniture upholstery. In addition to the wall of books, spiral staircases connecting different levels of this library became a spectacular decoration of the atrium.
By making the border between the hospital and the park more conditional due to the giant stained glass window, the architects hope that the construction of the educational center will initiate a larger-scale urban planning transformation, during which both medical, educational and cultural objects, also adjacent to the park, will be included in a single system.
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