Smarties, Uithof

Utrecht, Netherlands

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Other Projects by Architectenbureau Marlies Rohmer

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Fusion 'Multi-User Mosque' Amsterdam

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Smarties, Uithof

Utrecht, Netherlands

Firm

Architectenbureau Marlies Rohmer

Type

Residential › Apartment
Educational › University Other

YEAR

2008

Smarties!The building of student housing on the Utrecht University site turned De Uithof into a fully-fledged campus, simultanously tackling the chronic housing shortage for young people in this city. The new complex of 380 independent and clustered rooms manifests itself as a solitary mass in the ‘strip of objects’ of the OMA master plan (which also includes the Unnik tower and the Educatorium). A four-storey tall concrete ‘leg’, which projects by eight metres, shelters a range of communal and commercial spaces. The facade consists of a grid of multicoloured aluminium panels in which the windows are omitted. Seen from a distance, the colours blend into a grey, scaly skin. The closer you come, the more it appears as a colourful honeycomb for the bright young students – our ‘smarties’ – from all over the world. Beneath this lively skin, the interior of the mass fosters encounter and interaction at every scale. Party rooms and niches along the staircases and corridors make a microcosm in which young love can flourish and lifelong friendships can develop. De Uithof used to be a monotonous cluster of university buildings on the city margins of Utrecht. The separate buildings bore little relation to one another. Rem Koolhaas (OMA) and Art Zaaier devised a concept which would give De Uithof more coherence and character. Since then the object has been to achieve greater contrast between the built–up zones and open areas. The existing landscape qualities must be accentuated, but this must be balanced by compact building in functional clusters to enhance the level of urban interaction and eliminate the feeling of an urban desert. The central section consists of the Kasbah zone, a dense strip in individual buildings are closely spaced, and the ‘Object’ zone, in which the buildings are of a similar scale but grouped separately around a walkable public strip. A hallmark of the central area is that the buildings also communicate internally through a continuous walkway at first floor level.DE UITHOF CAMPUSThe site for the Smarties project forms part of the Object zone. The row of buildings include the Adminstration Building, the Van Unnik Building, the Basketbar, the Educatorium and the Ruppert Building. The new ‘smarties’ building is sited separately in the flowing pedestrian space between them. The building’s total height is over 50 metres. In this respect, it adds to the contrast between the rural surrounds and the substantial building masses such as the adjacent Van Unnik Building. Its ‘deviant’ orientation gives the residential block autonomy, and helps it form a balanced composition with the varying shapes, heights and positions of the other ‘objects’. It is like a beefy animal that is poised for an escape from the meadow but is so far still with the herd. The south side is bounded by Heidelberglaan, a main access route with a high-quality bus lane with a stop immediately in front of the building. The overhanging end face with a swing bench, suspended from the equally spectacular main concrete skeleton, is painted green, so that this plinth or ‘leg’ becomes part of the predominantly green public space. The swing bench produces a leisurely public spot which celebrates the busy to and fro and meeting of the thronging students. The end wall of the building aligns with the building line of the lower part of the Unnik Building. Apart from that, it deliberately avoids aligning with the other structures, enhancing the informality of the internal pedestrian zone.PUBLIC SPACEinner areawalkableflowingsports and gamescircus maximusjoggingencountergreentheatregoods deliveriesleisurelinking elementhealthy livingtaking a breakstudyingactivitiesobservatoryCampus and Public SafetySome of the 380 units have an entrance on the courtyard opposite the observatory, giving this area added public safety. The meadow enclosed inside the Circus Maximus jogging track reinforces the campus concept and provides, in the summer, a lively rendezvous for students at leisure. The jogging track has a dual function as the access route for service traffic, deliveries etc., while clearly tolerating private cars only as temporary ‘visitors’.CyclingThe bicycle parking facility is easily accessible through the flanks of the building and has its own sheltered main entrance under the rump of the ‘animal’. The entrances for bicycles and motorcycles are similarly situated on the sides, so that there is no reason at all for students to clutter the outside with their two wheelers.Swing Benchinviting entranceencounterinteractionoutdoor spaceatmosphereidentityauracontactpublic safetycommercial spacesbicycle parkingoversizeconvenient usesafetywaitingbus stop1510 WindowsFACADE. ABSTRACT BUT DETAILEDThe facade is clad with semi-matt modular aluminium panels which are mounted exactly flush with the over 1,500 monotonous windows of the student units. The windows and panels together form a continuous surface which accentuates the monolithic character of the building. This makes it less of a living factory; due to the multicoloured aluminium panels, the windows merge at a certain distance into the irregular, scaly skin. The building’s abstract, sculptural character is intensified, giving it its rightful place in the Object zone. The concrete ‘legs’ which support the rump are painted green, in harmony with the green character of the surroundings. The building, though greyish-looking from a distance, catches the eye from closer up owing to the detailed colour variations.FlexibilityMAIN SUPPORTING STRUCTUREWe aimed at a sustainable, flexible building concept. The main supporting structure consists of four massive concrete slabs. At the front, each slab appears as a theatrical leg on which the corpus of the animal rests. This leg dramatizes the main entrance. The corpus is made up of longitudinally aligned slab tunnels. This structural concept, in which the student units face one another across a lengthways central corridor, was chosen instead of the more conventional transverse ‘tunnels’ formed by apartment dividing walls and floors. The non-loadbearing party walls between the student units are in principle removable; a design which ensures the future flexible use of the building making it an economically sustainable addition to De Uithof. During construction, the formwork was shifted longitudinally for each successive concrete pouring. This was an efficient process which allowed completion of one floor every two weeks. The concept is one which still requires stabilization walls, and the service core provides the requisite stability. It is built from prefabricated concrete elements which alternate as in common bond brickwork gaining additional adhesion. The massive ‘legs’ at the front replace columns that might otherwise be used. The four hefty concrete slabs are each 60 cm thick and cantilever by 8 m at the top like gigantic shelf brackets. Designing the formwork and pouring the concrete for these slabs was a technical challenge. The reinforcement bars ranged from 16 to 40 mm in diameter, and the legs were built as an effectively separate assembly. Their surface is fair-faced concrete with a parallel strip pattern, and is painted green.Roof terraceSection. Glass floor panels visually link the corridorsStandard floor planINTERIOR. MORE THAN A CORRIDORencounterinteractioncorridor zoneroof terraceentranceoutdoor spacedurabilityatmospherecommunal spacescontactpublic safetyprivate/publicglass floor panelslightoversizeidentityflexibility

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Smarties, Uithof

Utrecht, Netherlands

Other Projects by Architectenbureau Marlies Rohmer

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Smarties, Uithof

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Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team

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Smarties, Uithof

Utrecht, Netherlands

Other Projects by Architectenbureau Marlies Rohmer

Kop van Lombok

Fusion 'Multi-User Mosque' Amsterdam

De Zeester

Waterwoningen

Houstma

The Intense City: Bloemsingel

Smarties, Uithof

Utrecht, Netherlands

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team