University of Amsterdam

This commission for the University of Amsterdam was won in an open international design competition. The project involves the re-invention of a linked group of teaching and laboratory buildings on the Roeterseiland Complex located in the south east corner of the inner city, near the art district and the zoo.

The University of Amsterdam (UvA) project remodels an uncompleted post-war academic campus in the heart of the Dutch capital, knitting its megastructural buildings back in to the city’s fabric, improving legibility and amenity for users and animating the street scene. The drama of an existing block spanning a canal is exploited by reshaping its form and opening up fresh views. Connections are made at ground level via a new bridge over this canal and a generous passage unifying disparate building entrances. Public rooms throughout further unlock its potential, whilst wholly new, carefully modulated facades assist navigation and identity and re-contextualise the buildings within their distinctive urban setting.