OZW, a new faculty

Design Patterns

Traditional Classroom:

Welcoming Entry: Walking into the building, one is struck by the fact that it has a very transparent, open lower layer, the plinth. The most eye-catching element, however, is the lecture-room that is suspended in this space like a large oval volume.

Home Base and Individual Storage: No lockers in this school. Everybody takes his stuff with him.

Art, Music, Performance: The art at the main lecture hall was a present for the official opening but is now a structural part of the lecture hall, a new special design for a diffeent approach of learning. Giving lecture like performing will have more result for the mind.

Casual Eating Areas: In a community of learners, students and lecturers/researchers are participants in the process of knowledge development. Knowledge development involves learning through research. Research projects focus on the discipline’s main questions and key concepts. Students become familiar with the culture of conducting research, collaborating, and engaging in academic communication. Individuals are encouraged to reflect, and to make independent judgements. Students have access to the facilities that are also available to researchers. So there is one restaurant for everybody.

Transparency: In this, the project houses a unique experiment to collect different schoollevels with the same subjects of study in one building. The theme of the project, innovation in school and transparancy in learning ,you will find this also in the architecture of the building. As you see the pictures, it speaks for it selves.

Interior and Exterior Vistas: The design is a high-rise with atria flowing diagonally through it, like a waterfall. These openings ‘tumble down’ from the south side of the building and ensure that the sunlight reaches the ground floor. In this way a compact building has been created, that doesn’t make the users feel confined to a high-rise block.

Indoor-Outdoor Connection: The atria windows are large, reflecting the studyscapes that lie behind them. In the evening especially, they make a spectacular sight. Walking into the building, one is struck by the fact that it has a very transparent, open lower layer, the plinth. In the building we have created various possibilities to look outside. In summertime everybody can sit on the green around, like a schoolpark.

Flexible Spaces: We have created the studyscapes where you can either study or meet&greet. It is important to contact and discuss. We prefer to create openness and light in study spaces in order to give the new learning philosphies their chances.

Campfire Space: Look at the interior of the main lecture hall; a lecture is held like a performance in a warm purple atmosphere like a theatre. This way of performance will increase the rememberance of the subject.

Cave Space: The building is organically shaped, which is more suitable for a health care facility than the harsh, straight lines in the existing environment. Sloping façades provide unexpected perspectives on all sides, and the vertical articulation of the windows makes the building appear to be rising up out of the ground. The atria windows are large, reflecting the studyscapes that lie behind them. In the evening especially, they make a spectacular sight. Upstairs, the floors are arranged around the large open atria with the studyscapes inside them. The interior radiates openness, and colour was used to highlight a number of distinctive locations.

Daylight and Solar Energy: The design is a high-rise with atria flowing diagonally through it, like a waterfall. These openings ‘tumble down’ from the south side of the building and ensure that the sunlight reaches the ground floor. In this way a compact building has been created, that doesn’t make the users feel confined to a high-rise block. It was important that the building be a whole, with its own nature, yet at the same time allow the various departments to retain their own identity.

Full Spectrum Lighting: The building is organically shaped, which is more suitable for a health care facility than the harsh, straight lines in the existing environment. Sloping façades provide unexpected perspectives on all sides, and the vertical articulation of the windows makes the building appear to be rising up out of the ground. The atria windows are large, reflecting the studyscapes that lie behind them. In the evening especially, they make a spectacular sight.

Sustainable Elements and Building as 3-D Text: In this way each building has stratification, space comes alive and architecture capable of inducing emotion is created. Light and space, colour and texture are the most important ingredients for a building that functions well in all respects and of which everyone is proud.

Local Signature: VU University Amsterdam wants to prepare students for an active role in society; for academic citizenship. Students are expected to develop a thorough knowledge of their subject. However, we also want them to make personal choices and to develop their ambitions. In this regard, we encourage them to look beyond the boundaries of their own discipline, beyond the boundaries of their own culture, traditions and philosophy. Free academic endeavour means taking yourself and others seriously, with regard to the choices that you make. It also means that, using this self-conscious attitude, free from the influence of church, state, and commerce, you learn to ask questions about the basic assumptions in the academic world, culture, faith, and philosophy. In this, the project houses a unique experiment to collect different schoollevels with the same subjects of study in one building. The theme of the project, innovation in school and transparancy in learning ,you will find this also in the architecture of the building.

Connected to the Community: The university campus and university hospital are situated in the south-western part of Amsterdam, one of the most dynamic and fast-growing business districts in the Netherlands. The international airport of Schiphol-Amsterdam is 10 kilometres away, just 8 minutes by train. With more than fifty undergraduate (or Bachelor’s) programmes and almost a hundred postgraduate (or Master’s) programmes, VU University Amsterdam offers a wide choice of study options. The programmes are of a high quality, the atmosphere is very conducive to study, and the teaching staff is easily accessible.