By Jeanne Tan / 02-12-2009

Dutch universities have often been some of the best places in The Netherlands to see the latest offerings in cutting edge Dutch architecture and interiors. Two recent award winning academic interiors confirm that: one is a temporary library and the other, an architecture think tank.

The University Library of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) designed by Studio Roelof Mulder & bureau Ira Koers recently won the institution category ‘Serve & Facilitate’ of The Great Indoors Award, which recognises excellence in public interior designs. The international jury for 2009 comprising Jo Coenen, Dirk van den Heuvel, Anne Højgaard, Jørgensen (Kvadrat), Anniina Koivu (Abitare), Joep van Lieshout and Giulio Ridolfo, praised the library design for retaining a delicate balance between temporality, functionality and expression, and unanimously appreciated that the interior was defined by an abstract functionality, offering broad latitude for reflection. The project is a collaboration between an architect and a graphic designer.

This particular library has two unusual characteristics: it's temporary and it actually houses no books. Instead, it's more a 'home' in which to study, accommodating a canteen, information centre and workspaces of varying atmospheres. As the university's books are kept in book depots at various locations, students order their books online and pick it up from the library. Until recently, books could only be collected during office hours, however a new 'pick up' room open until midnight changes that. As the heart of the library, this is where the books are delivered from the different locations to be distributed. Red plastic crates form the focus, 1105 of which are stacked ready to be filled with books, forming the walls that conceal the back of office operations. In the designer's words: "To offer students a good second home, we wanted to achieve two important things: a space like the white page of a book where the students themselves would play the main role in determining how it is filled in, and in certain areas a domestic atmosphere where the students could also study informally." Alongside the traditional quiet study areas of a library can be found lounge areas with chesterfields or kitchen tables that enable informal group work to be carried out.

Other Dutch winners of the Great Indoors Award included Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), with design architect Alexander Reichert in the category ‘Show & Sell’ with Prada Transformer and i29 Interior Architects in the category ‘Concentrate & Collaborate’ with their Recycled Office for advertising agency Gummo.

In another part of the country, 'The Why Factory' at the Faculty of Architecture of Delft University of Technology was awarded with the LAi prize 2009. Designed by MVRDV in collaboration with Richard Hutten, 'The Why Factory' houses lecture halls, meeting rooms and the research institute of this new think tank researching urban futures. An auditorium stair and roof of the structure climbs to the top. Accommodated inside a purpose made interior courtyard of the new building of the architecture faculty, the tribune structure designed by MVRDY is recognisable by its vivid orange colour, identifying 'The Why Factory' as an independent research centre within the faculty. Richard Hutten designed flexible furniture to enable the space around the tribune to switch function between research centre, lecture hall and exhibition space.

Alongside the LAi interior prize, the winner of the Thonet Mart Stam Prize for chair design was announced. The winner of the third edition of this award is Maartje Nuy and Joost van Noort with VOUWWOW. Made from recycled honeycomb cardboard, the chair is fashioned into shape by a few simple folds.

Library photography: courtesy Roelof Mulder & Ira Koers

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