Over the past decade, the educational cluster ‘De Uithof’ in Utrecht has grown into an international knowledge centre, with a variety of educational buildings, an academic hospital and housing.

RAU is currently working on an academic laboratory complex. The brief asked for a sustainable beacon to be added to the formidable ensemble of educational buildings of De Uithof.

Together with structural engineers Aronsohn, services engineers Deerns, Rau is currently working on the second design phase of the project. Peutz advises on acoustics, noise control, safety and building physics.

The new Environmental Laboratory will be shared by three research institutes. A small square in front of the building will connect and open up towards the existing TNO research facility (on the left), the new shared laboratory (centre) and the yet to be built faculty of GEO-research (right).

The laboratory itself is designed in a very compact and flexible way: with a tight and efficient floor plan, structured according to standard measurements of lab inventory. In order to reduce building mass, the infrastructure of technical services runs along the façade on outside of the building.

RAU has adopted a highly integrated design process where architecture, structural engineering, building physics and services go hand in hand.

The entrance section connects the adjacent buildings and will provide access to the environmental laboratory, TNO’s research facility and the future faculty of geo-research.

Many buildings in the ‘De Uithof’ cluster are of large scale. In contrast, the entrance building adopts a more human scale and can therefore be appreciated from the ground floor.

The laboratory’s curved glass front is caringly crafted and spans across the full floor height – without any supportive construction.

The unobtrusive roof is rested on a row of slender concrete columns. The position of  the columns is shifted in correspondence to the curves of the glass front. This increases the impression of a transparent curtain elegantly hung from the ceiling.