Environmental Center Assen/

Architect 24h- Architecture (now Natrufied Architecture and Earthbound Architecture)

Netherlands

Project Details

Location

Location(City/Country):

Bosrand, Assen / Netherlands
Tipology

Tipology:

Cultural Educational Hospitality
Year

Year (Design/Construction):

- / 2015
Area

Area (Net/Gross):

- / 2200 m2
Operational Carbon emissions

Operational Carbon emissions (B6) kgCO2e/m2/y:

-
Embodied Carbon emissions

Embodied Carbon emissions (A1-A3) kgCO2e/m2:

-
  • The building is well integrated with the surrounding landscape, minimizing its footprint.
  • Its configuration is like a termite hill providing natural ventilation just by set up with ground pipes and a solar tower.
  • The tower provides natural ventilation to the building.
  • Natural energy sources are utilized like solar power and biomass from wood chips of the neighboring forest.
  • Its green roof improves the building’s thermal and acoustic insulation and also contributes to greater retention of rainwater and local biodiversity.
  • The façade, the window frames and the tower are made of wood, a renewable and recyclable material that stores carbon during its growth and reduces the building’s embodied carbon emissions.

Project description as provided by the Architects:

At the border of an English landscape park in the city of Assen, an environmental education center has been developed for the municipality. The program includes offices, exhibition spaces, a restaurant and facilities for the neighboring children’s farm. The ecological approach is visualized in the integration of the surrounding landscape and the building, minimizing its footprint. The setup is like a termite hill providing natural ventilation just by set up with ground pipes and a solar tower. This tower functions as a lookout tower, landmark and provides the building with natural ventilation. Natural energy sources are utilized like solar power and biomass from wood chips of the neighboring forest.

The northern part of the roof blends into an animal field, while the southern part of the roof contains theme gardens for visitors. These two green sloping roofs meet at the top of the building, where the visitors meet the animals next to the solar tower.

The façade is clad with various pieces of FSC Lauro Gamela wood in different thicknesses, window frames from FSC Meranti. The tower is made of FSC Red Cedar wood.

Architecture design: Maartje Lammers, Boris Zeisser, with Fieke Poelman, Jasper Deurloo, Pieter Scholten.

All images by Boris Zeisser.

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