Erasmus University Campus - Rotterdam, NL

The Erasmus University campus is a product of the 1960’s, a collection of individually designed concrete buildings and parking lots.The redesign of the campus provides a new sense of place, orientation, and identity as well as a strategy that allowed for future expansion.

Two axes organise the campus. One of these, the University Plaza, acts as a main street, housing all the facilities such as a bookshop, restaurants, supermarket and a cafe. Parking is located underneath the Plaza. A new restaurant, exhibition space, and theatre are combined in a central student pavilion. The water management concept provided a central pond, that creates a sustainable ecological structure for the campus.

Key themes

• Global branding of the university as an ecological sustainable water campusA synergy between traffic, public space, ecology and the perfect study environmentEducation together with commercial developmentA new gathering building with restaurant, exhibition space and theatreTwo atmospheres; green open campus in contrast with a dense pedestrian city

The Erasmus University is situated at one of the access roads in the east of Rotterdam. Until a few years ago the Erasmus University campus was little more than a collection of individually designed buildings, entrances and parking spaces with poor connections between them. The redesign of the campus took into account the absolute need for a sense of place, orientation and identity as well as a strategy that allowed for future expansion. The introduction of two axes - the Erasmus Plaza and the Institutenlaan - organises the internal circulation and marks a clear hierarchy to the new main entrances.One of the new axes, the University Plaza, acts as a main street, housing all facilities such as a bookshop, restaurants, supermarket and cafe. Pedestrian access to the parking garage is situated on the Erasmus Plaza. At the crossing of the two axes, a new restaurant, exhibition space and theatre are combined in an appealing new student pavilion. The Erasmus Campus is largely car-free. Parking is located underneath this University Plaza and can be accessed by car from the east and west entrances.The newly created monumental pond not only shapes the heart of the campus, but is also the core of a water management scheme, that creates a sustainable ecological structure for the campus.Coherent set of guidelines has been established in close collaboration with the municipality to safeguard the developement qualities into the future.The masterplan impact was tested in a windtunnel