French Fries, Uithof, Utrecht

Located on the university campus of Utrecht, de Uithof, the programme of this complex can be divided in two categories: working and living. Each category has its own market, momentum, functional requirements, and constructive principles. Accordingly, we decided to design two buildings in an urban landscape: an office and conference centre as well as a residential and hotel building.

The residential and hotel building is a slab transformed into individualized towers. The slab concept provides maximum flexibility: the amount and size of hotel rooms and apartments is easily adaptable after completion. The towers indicate individuality. This group of slightly bent towers, leaning forwards, backwards or sideways, are a reference to the rows of individual buildings known from historic cities. This reflects the urban nature of a campus: individuality, variety, differentiation, and coherence in form and function. The variation in load-bearing structure provides stability in a typically Dutch way and has a mesh size that accommodates the flexible programme. The plinth of the building has a collective programme, including retail, a restaurant and a gym.

The office building comprises three levels of offices plus a higher upper level housing the conference centre. The façade is transparent and translucent to make the lively inner world visible to the outside world. This façade has a slight bend at each level, thus connecting the scale of the building to the human dimension and the adjacent residential building.