Description

The laboratory and office building is situated on the western outskirts of Leiden on a green university campus whose urban layout and character is determined by buildings of the sixties and seventies. The dynamical sculptural qualities of the new building can thrive within this context and render it a symbol for Leiden as a visionary place of science.

Physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes was active in Leiden and was able to determine the temperature of absolute zero at -273,1 degrees Celsius in the late 19th century. At this temperature, movement of all particles comes to a complete stop. This discovery continues to be the scientific base for the experimental and theoretical research conducted in the new building. For the scientific experiments, breadboard constructions, laboratory equipment, and scientific gear are required that only deliver reliable and optimised results under high vacuum and intercepted vibration conditions. These conditions can only be established by the use of complicated technical installations, considerable structural efforts, and sound detailing under consideration of all internal and external seismic, electro-magnetic, and acoustic factors.

The complex is composed of three architectural elements: the glazed transparent ground floor, a solid, vertically inclined office building, and the slightly pitched laboratory hall building that is pushed under the office building. The complex is linked to the existing Christian Huygens Laboratory – an eleven-storey functional building – via footbridges on all floors.

Materials like glass and light beech welcome employees and visitors with a bright and friendly atmosphere on the ground floor of the office wing. The auditorium and the canteen are located here. For the auditorium seating 150 students, a wavy ceiling made of Oregon pine was designed to improve acoustics.

The office wing is inclined towards the visitor at an angle of ten degrees. This architectural twist creates the distinctive character of the building, rendering it a major landmark within its context. Above all, a particular genius loci is created by the western elevation – with the low, curved laboratory hall building, the inclined volume, and the attached escape stair – that forms the backdrop of a water pond. The structure’s inclination that gradually increases the distance towards the existing opposite building improves the day­light conditions within as well as views to the outside. In terms of planning regulations, the increasing spacing between the buildings also prevents the spread of fire. Horizontal strip windows structuring the façade are cut into the zinc cladding and afford panoramic views of the surrounding pastures especially from the higher floors.

According to the programme the five office floors have a traditional layout with a central corridor. A continuous horizontal strip of glass just below the ceiling creates a bright, transparent atmosphere in the corridor, yet sustains the employees’ privacy.

The entire structural system of the laboratory wing was designed to keep the formation and effects of seismic vibrations at bay: This is reflected in the detailing of the main works and interiors and the layout of the building’s technical infrastructure. The result is a simple hall whose interior is characterised by a clearly structured and economically dimensioned steel structure. The transparent façade of screen-printed overlapping panes affords views into the building as to reveal the secrets of the long tradition of scientific instrument making on which the international reputation of the university is partly based.

The open ground floor plan of the laboratory wing provides maximum flexibility for future breadboards and installations that can be rearranged during research operations on predefined supplementary foundations located on a dynamic grid. Along both lengths of the laboratories the technical infrastructure runs in linear raised floor service ducts that can be refitted to suit future requirements. Here, the extremely powerful vacuum pumps are also located, which ensure that experiments can be conducted under the required technical conditions at a temperature around absolute zero.

The wide central corridor on the ground floor of the laboratory hall building also serves as storage and additional installation area for surplus gear and supplementary breadboards. In this area, also the distribution panels, manifolds etc. for water, electro, and gas supply have been installed visibly. On the first floor, workplaces for students are located above the glazed central corridor. They offer spaces for quiet, concentrated use of computer workstations while maintaining a visual contact with the experiments.

The overall building complex, which is characterised by the inclined office wing and the laboratory hall with its curved roof, narrates the architectural approach as a formally – or formalistically – motivated dynamic idea that might be interpreted as a contrast to the building’s function and the scientific significance of ”absolute zero” respectively. However, at closer inspection, this superficial and formal interpretation has to be revised and it becomes apparent that the design was rather motivated by practical i.e. legal, technical, and functional aspects. These aspects have resulted in a building which impresses mainly on the inside through the choice of materials and the deliberately imperfect fit-out; this way it adequately reflects the experimental nature of research facilities.

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Originally published in: Hardo Braun, Dieter Grömling, Research and Technology Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2005.