Mecanoo Architecten Completes Green-Roofed Amsterdam University College

Almost exactly a year ago, we reported that <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/mecanoo-architecten" target="_blank">Mecanoo Architecten</a> had topped out their green-roofed <a href="http://inhabitat.com/mecanoo-architecten-tops-out-its-green-roofed-amsterdam-university-college/">Amsterdam University College</a> - and today we have news and pictures of the completed building! The new liberal arts and sciences college is a joint venture between the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and the VU University Amsterdam (VU) and it boasts a multi-peaked roof covered in a lush sedum blanket. Beyond the striking facade and roof, the education building makes use of daylighting, energy efficient design, thermal energy storage and concrete core activation.

<a href="http://www.auc.nl/" target="_blank">Amsterdam University College</a> sits at the entrance to Science Park close to Amsterdam’s historic seventeenth-century city centre.

Francine Houben <a href="http://www.mecanoo.nl/tabid/217/DetailId/383/New-home-for-students-of-Amsterdam-University-College.aspx?img=AUCopening" target="_blank">explains</a>: “Amsterdam University College was designed as an inspiring home for the community of international students and their professors. It’s a friendly but robust home with a spacious loft on top.”

The multi-story building features a series of voids within to connect the various spaces together as well as to channel light from the upper skylights to lower parts of the building.

Inside, the educational facility features classrooms, a restaurant, the common room and the study hall.

By tilting the roofs diagonally, in a north-south direction, the sense of being in a loft is strengthened. The roof is covered in moss sedum, which acts as insulation, stormwater collector and serves as water storage.

Corteen steel was used to clad the exterior, which ensures it is low maintenance and gives the building a warm yet formal presence that resonates with the architecture of the Science Park.

In addition to daylighting and the green roof, the building makes use of efficient strategies like thermal energy storage and concrete core activation to reduce energy use.

Amsterdam University College officially opened on September 21st during a ceremony at which Amsterdam councillor Lodewijk Asscher was present.

A model of the building before construction.