Art & Design

Wiel Arets Architecture, Campus Hoogvliet in Rotterdam

Campus Hoogvliet is a cluster of six buildings that together compose one academic and socially focused campus, located just outside of Rotterdam. These six new buildings–a sports center, an art studio, a safety academy, 100 residential units within one building, and two schools–have been plugged into a programmed tarmac that communicates the campus’ boundary, and includes custom designed seating, a running track, and other place-making denotations.

A glass ‘fence’–equal in height to each ground floor façade–surrounds every building  , so as to create an exterior terrace that is both private and transparent .

All six buildings share a similar procession of entry: spaces compress in volume when transitioning from the campus’ tarmac toward the glass-fenced terraces; decompress when entering each building’s ground floor communal spaces; and compress again when traversing circulation paths toward upper levels.

text: Iraklis Taxiarhis