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RIKILT Development Wageningen Building

Wageningen University & Research Centre Project design by architects Broekbakema, The Netherlands

15 Jan 2010

RIKILT Wageningen

RIKILT – the Institute of Food Safety – is put into use. RIKILT is part of Wageningen University & Research Centre (Wageningen UR).

PAS DE DEUX FOR A MATURE GENTLEMAN AND A YOUNG LADY

Design: Broekbakema

RIKILT Development in Wageningen:

photographs : Menno Emmink

Located on the green campus of Wageningen University and Research Centre, the present RIKILT complex consists of a highly outmoded office building from the 1950s and a laboratory building with several annexes dating from the end of the 1970s. Out of respect for the senior building and to prompt an exciting dialogue between old and new, we decided to make the new construction stand out both in terms of form and personality.

photographs : Menno Emmink

The uniform ‘half-moon’ shape of the new construction makes a clear gesture to the campus, giving the entire complex a contemporary look and identity, while the curved façade lends a certain largesse and view on the existing building. The resulting effect is a pleasant space between old and new.

The new construction is, as it were, nestled in the ‘armpit’ of the existing laboratory and is linked to it by a number of bridges.

photographs : Menno Emmink

By standing the building on feet and giving the substructure a transparent form containing the most representative and public functions, a certain liveliness is created as well as an open view on the existing building at street level. Outside, the greenspace runs under the new construction to meet the existing lab building.

Using landscaping elements, the fragmented elevations on the terrain are blended into a whole. With its divergent storey heights to house the offices (3600mm gross) and the labs (4200mm gross) and large windows starting from the floor, the superstructure imparts a vivacious yet unpretentious façade. The at regular distance placed timber beams on red high pressure laminate board create a technical yet natural and warm façade.