 |
| Address |
Heidelberglaan 3
|
| Architect |
Wiel
Arets & Associates
Team: Wiel Arets, Harold Aspers, Dominic Papa, René Thijssen, Frederik Vaes, Henrik Vuust
|
| Year |
•1995 - 2004
Mar. 25th 1997: University Council decides on building the Library in De Uithof;
Apr. 22nd 1999: Presentation final design;
July 16th 2001: Construction starts.
|
| Use |
University Library. The library contains 4.2 million volumes on 90 km. of bookshelves. There are 6 reading rooms with over 500 chairs.
On the ground floor you can drink the best coffee of De Uithof in Espressobar Gutenberg where Blanche Dael is served.
At the Coimbrapad (western side of the building) shops are incorporated:
- Pizzeria
Tricolore , Coimbrapad 2/4 Italian rolls and pizza's
- Primera, Coimbrapad 6/8. Een shop with newspapers, magazines, greeting card etc. Open: Mon. to
Fri. 8.00-18.00 and Sat. 9.00-16.00 hr.
- Easy Bite, Coimbrapad 10/12. Fresh, healthy and fast take away-products. Open: Mon. to Fri
8.00-16.00.
|
| Awards |
| Nomination Mies van der Rohe Award 2005
Rietveld Award 2005, presented Jan. 22nd 2006
The jury report characterizes the building as uniquely contemporary and extremely well-positioned. A building that truly resists the global trend of superficiality. Members of the jury were: Mariet Schoenmakers (chair), urban planner / director developmental planning of 'AM Wonen', Kees van der Hoeven (chair of BNA, Royal Institute of Dutch Architects), Thomas Kemme (architect) and Janny Rodermond (publicist and director of the Dutch Fund for stimulating Architecture).
Betonprijs utiliteitsbouw 2005
On the 12th of November 2005 the BNA-cube (life time award) was awarded to Wiel Arets in the Library Building. From the jury report: The library at the Uithof campus constitutes a present summit in abstract architecture. Arets illustrates his ability to maintain a high level of quality where details are concerned, in a large scale project. The building is an excellent example of the richness of abstract architecture.
|
| Relevant websites |
www.library.uu.nl (includes film by Henrik Galewski)
www.architectuur.org (Dutch)
www.archined.nl
Photoseries Maastricht University
|
| Opened |
The University Library was opened to the public on Sept. 1st 2004. Books are moved in between Sept. an d Dec. 2004. The official opening took place on Mar. 17th 2005 by Yvonne van Rooy, chairwoman of the board of Utrecht University.
The book Living Library (ISDN 3-7913-3455-7) was presented on Sept. 21st 2005.
 © Jan Bitter
|
| Sq. metrage |
| 27.000 gross square meters. 10.000 sqm. is used for the depositories. 550 sqm. on the groundfloor is taken by shops. |
| Cost |
| 45 million € VAT excluded. |
| Contractors |
Main contstruction: Heymans - IBC Bouw
Project management: Wilimas Bouwmanagement
Installations: Huygen Installatietechniek
Electrical installations: GTI Utiliteit Midden BV
Constructions: ABT Adviseurs in Bouwtechniek, Velp
Facades: Permasteelisa Central Europe
Cauberg - Huygen Raadgevende Ingenieurs bv, Adviesbureau Peutz & Associates, Adapt 3D
|
| Landscape designer |
Landscaping is done by West 8 (the patio garden).
The Coimbrapad area was designed by OSO (the designers of the city of Utrecht). Adjacent to the libary a parking for 520 vehicles was built using the same concrete and glass materials.
|
| Energy |
The energy achievements of the building are: EPC = 0.7 for the office parts and 1.26 for the public areas. All installations are intregrated into the concrete constructions. The mass of the construction accumulates energy which causes temperature fluctuations to slow down. The combined effect of the activated building mass and the glass panelling with high sunblocking characteristics results in a relatively low cooling demand. The internal thermal load is minimized by daylight dependently switched lighting.
Thermal energy from ventilated air is recycled through twin-coil systems
into fresh air. Superfluous energy is used to operate a heat pump, which is used for cooling purposes during summer times and for heating during colder parts of the year. |
| Interior design |
| Designed by Wiel Arets Architect & Associates, produced by Quinze & Milan
Chairs and tables: Vitra. |
| General information |
The building itself mainly consists of concrete and glass. The concrete as well as all of the metal parts of the door is ainted black. The floors are covered with light-grey shining material which reflects the light. This means that the lower bookshelves receive enough light. The desks are covered with especially designed red imitation leather (pleasant to the touch / multifunctional, also suitable for the benches). The colour red draws attention to the desks.
The building is situated in the heart of De Uithof campus, in the most prominent location of the kashba zone. It has nine floors of 100 to 36 meters each. The depositories are created at different floors. The architects regards them as 'clouds' in the building, between which the reading rooms, collections and staff rooms are situated.
Based on the concept: 'the library as a meeting place', the architect has chosen for the so-called sauntering stairsteps to the second floor and normal stairsteps to the other floors. The main entrance is situated at the Heidelberglaan where the traditional monumental stairs are not in front of the building, but they are behind the front facade leading to a mezzanine where the auditorium (Boothzal) can be found.
The construction with only 20 pillars and 4 concrete kernels is downright spectacular for a building of this size, yielding an astonishing open space within the buidling.
On of the more striking details of the building are the glass panels that are operated automatically to control the amount of sunlight that is coming into the building. Silkscreen printing is applied depicting willowtree details. The inspiration is taken from the Maastricht based architecture photographer Kim Zwarts.
|
| The name of the building |
| University Library. |
