> Anda Kerkhoven Centre

The first building project by the (UG) on the Healthy Ageing Campus is the realization of a new education centre for the Faculty of Medical Sciences and the Faculty of Science & Engineering (especially for the degree programmes in Pharmacy). KAAN Architecten from Rotterdam has designed the education building that will be named Anda Kerkhoven Centre. The building was opened in October 2024. It offers teaching, meeting and working spaces for around 2,000 students and staff.

The new education building of around 12,000 m2 is located next to the ERIBA building, near the new UMCG proton therapy centre. It functions as a new entrance building to the campus when departing from the city centre of Groningen and includes, among other things, classrooms and project rooms of various sizes, a study environment, a food court and a covered bicycle parking area. In addition, flexible workstations can be used by lecturers in between their teaching activities. The building replaces the old teaching rooms at Antonius Deusinglaan 2.

All of the teaching activities that used to be spread across multiple – sometimes outdated – buildings is now being brought together in a sustainable manner to one location. There are new facilities for innovative and small-scale teaching and the building really gives the campus its own presence in the city.

Anda Kerkhoven

The name for the building was chosen from the entries in a contest held among staff and students. The Groningen resistance fighter and medical student Anda Kerkhoven (1919-1945) is one of the most imaginative students in the history of the UG, because of her life and her ideals, but also because of the way she stood up for them.

She was driven by her love of nature and profound pacifism. Kerkhoven insisted on an exemption for vivisection during her medical studies, which brought her from Batavia to Groningen. She joined the Social Democratic Students' Club and wrote activist pieces for student magazine Der Clercke Cronike. During the war, Kerkhoven joined the resistance, where she was responsible for the distribution of coupons and identity papers. In December 1944, she was arrested and on 19 March 1945, she was executed in the woods between Haren and Glimmen. Anda Kerkhoven deserves a place of honour at the University of Groningen, according to the jury report.

Design

The new and transparent Anda Kerkhoven Centre was designed by KAAN Architects from Rotterdam. It consists of a high brick building block with education spaces and a lower foyer with a green roof garden on top. The foyer is closely connected to the outdoor area and the rest of the buildings and therefore functions as a true new entrance to the Healthy Ageing Campus. The building will have a relaxed atmosphere that encourages cooperation and knowledge transfer, and invites to a healthy lifestyle, with much attention to space and sustainability. The energy will be generated sustainably using solar panels and a thermal energy storage system.

Building team