Architecture News Plus (ANP) – Architecture and Design Magazine

Research Laboratory at Groningen University

This is a project by UNStudio and it is located at Groningen, Netherlands. Project's program: Research laboratory as part of the medical faculty of the Rijksuniversiteit. There are six images for Research Laboratory at Groningen University.

: © Christian Richters

Project details

Project name: Research Laboratory at Groningen University
Location: Groningen, Netherlands
Program: Research laboratory as part of the medical faculty of the Rijksuniversiteit
Area: Site Area: 1.093 m2 • Surface Area: 7.497 m2
Year: Project Year: 2003-2008
More details: Volume: 2.3792 m3 • Competition: 1st Prize
Client: Rijksuniversiteit
Project by: UNStudio
Team: Project Team: Ben van Berkel, René Wysk, Ton van den Berg, Boudewijn Rosman, Eric den Eerzamen, Jacques van Wijk, Thomas de Vries, Nanang Santoso, Michaela Tomaselli, Erwin Horstmanshof, Andreas Bogenschuetz, Pablo Rica, Wouter de Jonge, Jeroen Tacx, Gerard Loozekoot, Eugenia Zimmermann, Stephan Albrecht, Anika Voigt
Others: Construction: ABT • Installations: Deerns • Contractor: Heijmans Bouw

Project images

Designer's statement

One of the strongest principles of contemporary architecture concerns the integral treatment of the volume; ideally, each of the five facades should reflect clearly what happens inside. The relationship between the building’s usage and its appearance should be transparent and logical. There should be no prioritization of front, back and side elevations as such; instead pure functionality should dictate where openings or details that emphasize certain user-related aspects are placed.

But what happens when a building is asked for that forbids this type of logic? The research laboratory in Groningen will be visited by very few people; on the inside it is a stark, technical environment, with only limited office space. The relationship between outside and inside is almost non-existent. Yet, the building is on a prominent location, passed-by daily by swarms of students and staff of the medical campus of Groningen University. And, at the same time, it needs to be more than a just skin wrapped around an unimaginative box, because the requirements, albeit technological in nature and never to be set eyes on by more than the handful of people authorized to work in this laboratory, are real and complex.

In response to this quandary, UNStudio has designed a deceptively simple envelope constructed from flat, vertical aluminum slats, which, in places, are twisted outwards in bowed forms. Tall, vertical undulations are generated, which present an open or a closed aspect depending on the angle under which they are viewed.

On the lower level the colour yellow is used, which gradually changes to green towards the top of the building.

In the interior, two internal vertical voids allow daylight to enter the interior functioning as a form of internal facade. The two voids have the geometry of asymmetrical truncated cones which mirror each other vertically. Shared walkways surround these internal voids, creating a clear organisation whereby dark corridor systems can be avoided. On the ground floor, where daylight is at its lowest, yellow is used. Per floor this colour then deepens through to orange and finally to red on the uppermost level.