At the beginning of December, the festive pre-delivery of the circular showcase ROAM took place on Zernikelaan. This new showcase aims to highlight the various collaborations between education, research, and business happening at the Zernike Campus. Read more in the article that recently appeared in the print edition of the Groninger Ondernemers Courant (GROC). And check out the episode of CampusTV about the pre-delivery below!

The Zernike Campus is buzzing with ideas and innovations. To give an insight into all these developments, a circular pavilion is being built on Zernikelaan, designed by students and constructed from recycled materials, including from a demolished building at Zernike.

The pavilion is one of four 'showcases' intended to highlight the collaborations between education, research, and business at the Zernike Campus, says Monique Koller, Real Estate and Space Advisor at Hanze. At the same time, the building aims to contribute to more activity and interaction.

"We didn't want just an ordinary building, but one that also radiates ingenuity," says Koller. And it shows: the building has a wooden structure and a green roof that slightly protrudes at the front. It is largely made from reused, sustainable, and biobased materials and was designed and built by students from Hanze and Alfa College.

Pieter Omlo is involved in the project as a lecturer in Built Environment at Hanze and a researcher in Circular Building at the Knowledge Center Noorderruimte (Hanze). He supervised students during the demolition, design, and construction process, along with colleague Piet Zijlstra.

"Normally, you start designing with a blank sheet of paper. But now we had already harvested various materials from the demolished building. We had the puzzle pieces, and we had to create something new from them," says Omlo. "I also instructed my students to design it so that it can be dismantled and reused: this means we prefabricated everything in smaller elements and assembled it on site."

The collaboration between Hanze and Alfa College was special. "It's inspiring to see how university and vocational students learn from each other and complement each other with their expertise," says Omlo. "It's also educational for them to work on a real-life project for a real client where something is at stake."

And the uniqueness is not just in the design. Inside the building, there will be plenty to experience. Students from Minerva Academy will use the building as an exhibition space and will manage the programming in the building for the coming years. The first exhibition will focus on the Innovation Hub East Groningen: a collaboration aimed at innovative applications of local products, such as potatoes, hemp, and magnesium salt.

"We don't want a static building, but one that grows with the times," says Koller. "If there are new developments, the building can adapt to them. We will continue to experiment."

The pavilion is a collaboration between, among others, the West Business Association, the University of Groningen, Hanze, and the municipality.

Source of article and images: GROC
Photographer: Jan Buwalda