FiftyTwoDegrees, Nijmegen Building, Photo, Tower in Holland, Architect, Holland, Award

FiftyTwoDegrees Nijmegen

Dutch Commercial Building by Mecanoo architecten, The Netherlands

15 Sep 2009

FiftyTwoDegrees

Chicago Athenaeum Award for Fifty Two Degrees

Mecanoo awarded two Chicago Athenaeum prizes
Mecanoo’s Fifty Two Degrees and Wei-Wu-Ying Center for the Performing Arts have been awarded the prestigious International Architecture Award 2009 by the Chicago Athenaeum Europe.

Award for Fifty Two Degrees
12 Feb 2009
Business Innovation Centre FiftyTwoDegrees in Nijmegen has been awarded 1st prize in architecture for new commercial building by the International Design Awards

Dedalo Minosse Prize
9 Jun 2008
FiftyTwoDegrees, Nijmegen, awarded the Dedalo Minosse Prize

photograph © Christian Richters

On 30 May 2008 the jury of the international Dedalo Minosse awarded the Eurotherm Special Prize for Sustainability to FiftyTwoDegrees in Nijmegen. The prestigious prize was presented in the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy, to the initiators Ron Lubbers of ICE Development and Jos van Oostrum of Ballast Nedam Bouw Special Projects and to architect Francine Houben of Mecanoo. The project is also to be seen in the exhibition in Palazzo Valmarana Praga, Vicenza, which runs until 24 August.

photo © Christian Richters

Business Innovation Center FiftyTwoDegrees is praised in the jury report for its innovative concept and the attention paid to sustainability in the design. FiftyTwoDegrees combines technology, science and culture in a unique environment that invites encounters and collaboration. It was designed on the basis of a humane and sustainable view on the location, architecture, materialisation and use, but also on management and exploitation.

The second phase of FiftyTwoDegrees connects directly with Goffert Park and the N.E.C. station. The new lightrail station ‘Goffert’ means that the entire area is assured of a fast link with the city and the region. As a result, the NXP campus (formerly Philips Semiconductors) is no longer isolated and opportunities are created for allowing knowledge-intensive industry, which the region is rich in, to grow.

photo © Christian Richters

Programme: 1st phase of a 70,000 m2 multifunctional complex with offices, a multimedia theatre, hotel, shops, restaurants, sports facilities and parking

Client: ICE Development, Nijmegen; Ballast Nedam Bouw Special Projects, Utrecht

Design: Mecanoo architecten, Delft

FiftyTwoDegrees Nijmegen information from Mecanoo architecten 090608

Knowledge centre
At the start of the new millennium, Philips Semiconductors (now NXP) wanted to expand its current production and research site in Nijmegen by creating a new knowledge centre for the development of semiconductors for the electronics industry. The existing production site is sealed off and fenced in for security reasons.

The new knowledge centre, where technology, science, culture, work, living and leisure come together, fosters chance encounters and collaboration with diverse parties. The name of the complex, FiftyTwoDegrees, refers to the site’s 52nd degree of latitude, which like the ambition of the initiators, spans the entire world.

Link
FiftyTwoDegrees is the realisation of the first phase of a large-scale master plan surrounding the Neerbosscheweg. The 86 metre tall tower stands on a slope and is fluidly yet excitingly absorbed into surrounding Goffert Park. The second phase will see the ground level overarch the Neerbosscheweg, creating a direct link with the city, the Goffert stadium and the new Goffert light rail station. Under the grassed roof are parking spaces for six hundred cars, various commercial facilities and a covered Plaza with shops and restaurants. Conference rooms, a theatre, a hotel, sports facilities and shops are due to be added to the complex in the second phase.

Kink
The tower is seventeen storeys high. The lower eight floors are ten degrees out of plumb, creating an inviting gesture towards the city. The bent form was created by the hybrid construction of concrete and steel, whereby for each intermediate floor the elevation shifts in relation to the concrete cores. In order to shorten the construction time – one floor per week – it was decided to use prefabricated cladding, resulting in a pattern of pixels that gives the facade an abstract appearance.

A broad staircase leads from the Esplanade to the reception hall with its conspicuously curved wooden benches. The undulating wall clad with mahogany represents a visually connecting element that automatically indicates the route through the building. The office and laboratory floors can be flexibly subdivided. The use of climate ceilings allows the climate to be regulated for each work station so that the spaces can adapt to the organisation of new products being developed.

FiftyTwoDegrees Nijmegen – Building Information

Programme Multifunctional complex of 70,000 m2 with offices, conference halls, a theatre, catering facilities, apartments, retail and sports facilities
Design 2004-05, 1st prize in competition in 2002
Execution 2005-08
Client Ballast Nedam Bouw, Arnhem; ICE Ontwikkeling, Nijmegen
Architect Mecanoo architecten, Delft
Structural engineer ARUP, Amsterdam (competition); Adviesbureau Tielemans BV, Eindhoven (execution)
General contractor Ballast Nedam Speciale Projecten, Utrecht
Building services consultant Royal Haskoning, Nijmegen
Building costs including services 1st phase € 42,000,000 (2006)

FiftyTwoDegrees Nijmegen info from Mecanoo architecten 031207

mecanoo architecten based in Delft

Mecanoo architecten

Location: Nijmegen, Netherlands, western Europe