Art Campus Utrecht
SSH (the real estate fund for students), the HKU (School of Art) and the University Medical Center of Utrecht (UMC Utrecht) took the initiative to develop an Art Campus between in Utrecht, as part of the city agenda as European Capital of Culture in 2018. FABRICations was called to develop a masterplan strategy for Oostmeijer Developers, currently in charge of the project.
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Location
Utrecht, NetherlandsYear
2013 -
SSH & Jebber
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SSH (the real estate fund for students)
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Design lead
Eric Frijters
Olv KlijnTeam members
Bas Driessen
Ivo de Jeu
Greta Mozzachiodi
Nuria Ripoll
Clara Arango
Karena Codona
David Dominguez
Charlotte Simpson
“The project is, in fact, shaped like a canyon, with open traffic and pedestrian routes, to strongly integrate the new intervention within its urban context. .”
The design reflects on the original meaning of the word ‘campus’, used in Latin to define “open fields” or “open spaces”. This correspondence testifies a relation between educational process and free space for chance interactions and social-cultural connections, however, due to the specific density of the Netherlands, there seems to be a general lack of wide open areas for cooperation and entrepreneurship in relation to the academic facilities. To overcome this disadvantage, FABRICations developed a model that incorporates qualitative space for exchange with essential commercial requirements.
The project is, in fact, shaped like a canyon, with open traffic and pedestrian routes, to strongly integrate the new intervention within its urban context. The inner public space, shared between the campus and the city, is connected through deep cracks in the urban block, defining five bodies. In those volumes, program is efficiently organized and shaped in peculiar-landscape looking elements. Shielded in artificial hills, parking, education, housing and employment are planned, distributed and interwoven with a new icon, a new “University Campus” in Utrecht.
