Watercampus Wetsus Leeuwarden

Being a partner in the cooperation GEAR lead to winning the architect-selection for the Watercampus in Leeuwarden. The function of each partner in this cooperation changes within every new project. In this particular project Achterbosch Zantman Architecten and TWA, together, form the design-team.
Starting point is an autonomous building in a landscape formed by the river, Potmarge, and its banks. The area forms a whole but has many characteristics; it changes colors and each color forms a cluster. The site identifies itself by a structure of streams and reed banks, where wet and dry overlap. This makes a strong image relation with the Van Hall Larenstein institute.

The watercampus is lifted above the landscape, as if the landscape runs underneath the building. The façade on the first floor opens at three prominent directions and shows a glimpse of the light interior to the visitor or the traveler passing by. The architecture is a symbiosis between function and meaning. An image that refers on a personal level to the location, to the use for, to the user and to the sustainable character of the building. The functional aspect is mainly dictated by the sustainable performance of the façade: The wooden blinds are fixed in a way they keep the heat outside and bring the daylight in. The façade has a high isolation-value and plays a role in natural ventilation. The maintenance-free wooden panels are renewable, the walkway behind the wooden parts make maintenance easy.
The waving of the wooden sun-panels give the façade a liquid character, an identity which refers to the Watercampus. Wetsus is the main tenant together with other companies specialized in water technology. The volume consist of laboratories and offices. An atrium brings light and air in the heart of the building. This atrium is the central gathering: a three dimensional crossing of sightlines, bridges and consultation areas.
Renewable materials, a flexible and collapsable building, a building which purifies its own drinking- and gray water and generates its own energy. The sustainability is huge: In the international BREEAM classification the building reaches score “excellent”.

Opdrachtgever: Gemeente Leeuwarden
Hoofdgebruiker: Wetsus
Samenwerking: GEAR
Locatie: Leeuwarden
Realisatie: 2015