The old auditorium at Groningen’s School of Music has been given a completely new identity. Breaking open one of the façades allows sunlight to stream into the hall and establishes a relationship between the hall and the adjoining patio. An oak interior was rolled out lengthwise, transforming the existing elements in the hall – floor, stage, balcony, walls and ceiling – into a unified whole. The organ was integrated in this wooden interior. The acoustics of the hall were improved by opening up the wooden surfaces, between which the lighting fixtures are set. The auditorium has been transformed into the ‘innards’ of a musical instrument.
A new, 92 meter tall complex of soft, undulating curves marks the skyline of Groningen. This asymmetric, aerodynamic construction is set amidst small, ancient woodland, sheltering rare and protected species. The project includes the design, construction and financing of two public institutions; the national tax offices and the student loan administration. The commission from the RGD (National Buildings Service) includes, besides the architecture, the management and building maintenance and care of facilities and services for a period of 20 years. Accommodating 2,500 workstations, parking facilities for 1,500 bicycles and 675 cars in an underground garage, the building will be surrounded by a large public city garden with pond and a multifunctional pavilion with commercial functions.
Education Executive Agency & Tax offices - Photo by Ronald Tilleman
The Intense City including 45 Homes and Commercial Space in Groningen
The former water supply company site on Bloemsingel is part of the City of Groningen’s housing construction campaign The Intense City. This building festival covers multiple sites in the city centre, whose infill will enrich the diversity of functions. One theme of the festival is “parochial space”, a semi-public space inside an urban block. The location as a whole is typified by the adjacent electricity substation which is listed as an architectural monument, and the ample public green space on the banks of the Ooster Hamrikkanaal (canal).
It is surprising that in a miraculously flat country like the Netherlands only so few towers emerge. The potential of the unobstructed view -as one of the main topics in Dutch painting- is in housing under developed. There seems to be a collective fear of elevators. (Which maybe explains the success of the Dutch movie Down -originally ‘De Lift’). Prisma takes the view – one of the most glamorous properties of dwelling- as starting point in combination with outdoor space.
Side View of Prisma
Architects: NL Architects, Pieter Bannenberg, Walter van Dijk, Kamiel Klaasse
Name of Project: Prisma
Location: Siersteenlaan 482, Groningen, The Netherlands
Project leader: Sören Grünert (Design Phase), Gert Jan Machiels (Execution Phase)
Client: Stichting De Huismeesters, Ed Moonen / Roelof Jong
Team: Rachel Herbst, Sebastian Janusz, Erik Moederscheim, Wim Sjerps (competition) Lukas Haller, Gerbrand van Oostveen, Michael Schoner, Wim Sjerps (approval planning), David de Bruin, Arjen Fruitema, Britta Harnacke (contract documents)
Cost Consultant: ABT Delft, Charles Boks
Structural Engineer: ABT Velp, Rob Nijsse, Erwin ten Brincke
Building services Engineer: Van der Weele Groningen, Frits Weijers, Radek Nosek
Fire Consultancy: DGMR Arnhem
Contractor: Schutte Bouw en Ontwikkeling, Zwolle
Program: Housing (52 apartments), nursery with consultation office
Tags: Groningen, The Netherlands Comments Off on Prisma in Groningen, The Netherlands by NL Architects, Pieter Bannenberg, Walter van Dijk and Kamiel Klaasse
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