Urban concept of the Huygensbuilding
The setup of the new building of the faculty consists of a court-shaped construction facing the Heyendaalseweg. Architectural volumes perpendicular to the Heyendaalseweg underline the opening from and toward the Mercator Parc. The intermediate units are conceived with transparent volumes and courtyards. The central court contains the entrance and the restaurant. The new situation aims to develop the Heyendaalseweg as a place of meeting between the university and the
city of Nijmegen. The Mercator Parc has been developed as Science Parc in which the surrounding woods will receive ample space. The faculty forms a kind of link between the Mercator Parc and the Heyendaalseweg.
Architectural concept
The design is a limpid and open concept, based on a city plan consisting of 4 construction units of 4 levels each, interconnected by a street. The central square is located in the heart of the building. Here we find the entrance oriented toward the Heyendaalseweg, and the restaurant, facing the Mercator Parc. The street, as backbone of the complex, has been designed to radiate the experience of activity, dynamics and space; the street as meeting place, a zone to stay and to navigate to all departments. Open and closed facades, empty volumes, much day light, will give the street an open, friendly and spatial character. This effect should be emphasized by the use of warm materials and color touches. In contrast to the open light street, the various scientific departments are located in the more private wings: laboratories and research rooms are preceded by more informal work and office places. These zones are the entry to each department.
| The Huygens building on photographs, in schemes and on Google streetview |
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| Photographs Dick van Aalst; ScienceMediaStore Radboud University |
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Flexible possibilities for re-arrangement have been taken into account in the concept and in the structure of the front panels. Inner walls can be moved without causing problems to the outer panels. The architecture is functional and timeless in its setup, but thanks to the curved roof an architectonic gesture raising from the Mercator Parc the building reaches to the Heyendaalseweg, in such way that it expresses a certain dynamics and tension. In size the building is large, but the new spatial location in the green in combination with the volumes and front panels give it a human dimension.
The front panels at the Heyendaalseweg are foreseen of much glass. The architecture acts like a show-window of the faculty. Because laboratories and other rooms are relatively deep, it has been taken into account to allow for much daylight from the side panels. Sunshine and access of light can be impeded by closeable sunshades consisting of lamellae. If necessary these can be completely closed to darken the rooms. Through the use of these lamellae the building has a sculptural character when seen from a distance. On approach the architecture becomes more and more open. Eye contact between the observer and the "student" is thus optimal. The panels between the units are entirely of glass. The office rooms where among others the representative functions are found give the correct scale and size.
The
Nanolab lie -nearly entirely- underground and is extremely stable, as well as the neighbouring
Goudsmit NMR-pavilion which roof represents leaves of a water lily floating on the surrounding water. The
High-field Magnet lab is arranged in two layers and hosts laboratories where measurements of extremely high magnetic field can be performed in a astonishing wide range of conditions. The
Flare (Free-electron Laser for Advanced spectroscopy and high-Resolution Experiments) is still under construction.
Organization stucture
In the present evolution of the society terms like openness, flexibility, functionality, accessibility and compact structures are central. Teaching changes rapidly. The university develops toward exchanges with the society, as can be witnessed from the Mercator Technology & Science Parc. An institute of knowledge, research and development. Developments of today and yet unknown developments of the future should be realizable in the new building. Communication plays an important role. Exchange of knowledge is favored in the new building by connecting all functions by means of one street. The university develops like a city, with streets and squares, where it is pleasant to stay.
The program consists in main line of chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics and computer sciences. Auxiliary services are the faculty staff, university restaurants and the library. Under the new building a parking lot has been planned. In the temporary design harmony of activities has been seek , in which individual identity of the various departments receive special attention in the inside. A podium has to be created where the departments can present themselves, as well internally as externally.
Routing
The use of chemical substances plays an important role in the faculties.
Streamings are:
- Students, teaching and auxiliary personnel
- Transport of chemicals
- Transport of general goods
- Parking cars and bikes
In sake of safely and fire prevention, chemicals have to be transported along different paths than other streaming. In the parking basement a separate supply corridor exists, in an own platform apart from the car traffic. From these corridor the various departments can be reached by means of transportation elevators. The main entrance is located centrally in the building at the Heyendaalseweg (Note January 2006: unit under construction). All persons have to pass through this gate, along the central reception in the central hall. In this way, internal control remains optimal. Inside the building all departments can be reached through the main street, stairs and elevators. Corridors and streets are broadly sized. There are enough parking lots for cars and bikes under the building. The parking garage is accessible from the north side of the building. All rooms are accessible for disabled persons.
Particularities of the heating/cooling
The building comprises a state of the art heating and cooling system: concrete mass in the floors functions as a warmth/cold exchanger depending on the season. In addition in winter time secondary waste heat (about 28 degree C) from experiments in the nearby Laboratory for Magnets is shifted to the Huygens building. Further on, a water bell capacity system deep in the soil (aquifer) has been instated to allow storage of heat or cold from the building for use at a later stage.
Sources
AGS Architects & Planners B.V., Heerlen.
GTI nv, Bunnik,
www.gti.nl/nl/nieuws/radboud_universiteit.
