Groningen, Netherlands
Designed by Pieter Bannenberg, Walter van Dijk, and Damiel Klaasse at their team at NL Architects, Forum Groningen is a new multifunctional building in the center of Groningen, a cultural “department store” filled with books and images, that offers exhibition spaces, movie halls, assembly rooms, and restaurants.
Forum Groningen is a public building that literally and figuratively cannot be ignored due to its size and impact.
The way in which this building fits in with the context of the historic inner city of Groningen is nothing less than courageous, both in terms of urban planning and architecture.
The 11-story landmark building is open 365 days a year; and in the first three months it was open, it welcomed 1 million visitors.
No other Dutch cultural institution welcomed that many visitors in such a timeframe.
The building derives its basic iconic form and part from the shape of a trapezoid box.
An impressive, unique volume that understands the art of fitting in and gives the direct surroundings a new impetus.
Inside, a central atrium connects six floors with open spaces and squares, with a panoramic roof the Hoge Markt as a highlight.
The Forum aspires to become a platform for interaction and debate, a “living room” for the city.
Forum Groningen is not a library, not a museum, not a cinema, but a new type of public space where the traditional borders between these institutions dissolve.
Information will be presented thematically in a way that transcends the different media.
The building is designed as a single clear volume to express the desire for synergy, to strengthen the shared ambition to combine different facilities into one new compound.
A series of careful cuts nails the building on its site and generates a multitude of different appearances.
Forum Groningen features an exceptional central space, an innovative atrium that with its horizontal ‘tentacles’ forms the pumping heart of the venue.
The void works as a spatial interface that binds all functions, movie theatre, book collection, expo, auditorium, and as such hopes to catalyze the exchange of knowledge and ideas.
A series of stacked “squares” emerges that can be experienced as the continuation of the network of open spaces in the city of Groningen.
The vertical squares are publicly accessible and provide entry to the ticketable activities.
The specific layout offers continuously changing perspectives on the surrounding city and culminates in the roof terrace, a viewing platform, and an outdoor theater.
Forum Groningen has been engineered “to accommodate finding not searching”. The design stimulates exploration.
It hopes to catalyze the desire to wander, to “browse” endlessly through a staggering interior landscape.
Forum Groningen is thereby a remarkable enrichment to the community and also a new urban symbol for Groningen.
Project: Forum Groningen
Architects: NL Architects
Design Team: Pieter Bannenberg, Kamiel Klaasse, Walter van Dijk, Thijs van Bijsterveldt, Florent Le Corre, Sören Grünert, Iwan Hameleers, Sybren Hoek, Kirsten Hüsig, Mathieu Landelle, Zhongnan Lao, Barbara Luns, Gert Jan Machiels, Sarah Möller, Gerbrand van Oostveen, Giulia Pastore, Guus Peters, Jose Ramon Vives, Laura Riaño Lopez, Arne van Wees, Zofia Wojdyga, Gen Yamamoto with Christian Asbo, Nicolo Bertino, Jonathan Cottereau, Marten Dashorst ,Rebecca Eng, Antoine van Erp, Tan Gaofei, Sylvie Hagens, Britta Harnacke, Jana Heidacker, Sergio Hernandez Benta, Johannes Hübner, Yuseke Iwata, Cho Junghwa, Linda Kronmüller, Jakub Kupikowski, Katarina Labathova, Ana Lagoa Pereira Gomes, Qian Lan, Justine Lemesre, Amadeo Linke, Fabian Lutter, Rune Madsen, Phil Mallysh, José Maria Matteo Torres, Victoria Meniakina, Shuichiro Mitomo, Solène Muscato, Lea Olsson, Pauline Rabjeau, Thomas Scherzer, Michael Schoner, Martijn Stoffels, Jasper Schuttert, Bartek Tromczynski, Carmen Valtierra, Elisa
Ventura, Benedict Völkel, Vittoria Volpi, Murk, Wymenga, Qili Yang, Yena Young, and Alessandro Zanini
Interior Architects: X deMunnik-deJong-Steinhauser architectencollectief E.A.
Client: Municipality of Groningen
Photographers: Jean Pierre Jans, Deon Prins, Roos Aldershoff
and Marcel van der Burg
