Name revealed and construction started: Anda Kerkhoven Centre on Healthy Ageing Campus

The new Educational Centre of the UG and the UMCG on the Healthy Ageing Campus will be named after the Groningen resistance fighter and medical student Anda Kerkhoven (1919-1945). On 18 March 2022, the name was officially unveiled and it was celebrated that construction work had recently started (webcam). The Anda Kerkhoven Centre is expected to be completed by the end of 2023 and will offer teaching, meeting and working space for around 2,000 students and staff from the Faculty of Medical Sciences and the Faculty of Science and Engineering (Pharmacy).

The new building will be the face of the part of the campus surrounding the Antonius Deusinglaan, which in the coming years will be transformed into a lively and green city square with branches of the University College Groningen and cultural student centre Usva surrounding it.

Anda Kerkhoven

The name for the building was chosen from the entries in a contest held among staff and students by a jury including Arjen Dijkstra (director of the University Museum) and Mart van Lieburg (honorary professor of Medical History). "Anda Kerkhoven is undoubtedly one of the most imaginative students in the history of our university," they stated at the unveiling, "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. "With the naming of the new building, she lives on in memory." The people who suggested the building name, will receive a prize.
> Read more about the life story of Anda Kerhoven (in Dutch)

Construction started

Bjorn Wiggers of contractor Hegeman BV is delighted that construction has started: "Apart from the fact that it is a privilege to realise this spectacular design, it has been a special project. Together with De Groot Installatiegroep, we were able to exchange ideas about the project with the commissioning parties and the design team at various stages in order to meet the needs as closely as possible. Now that we have reached the start of the realisation phase, we are about to reap the benefits of this joint construction team effort. We are proud of the result achieved so far and look forward to a smooth realisation process and the moment when we will meet again to open the Anda Kerkhoven Centre."

City square Antonius Deusinglaan

The construction of the Anda Kerkhoven Centre is the first step in the transformation of the entire area around Antonius Deusinglaan. UG Board member Hans Biemans: "It's fantastic that we have started construction. It will certainly be a beautiful, sustainable place for students and staff of Medical Sciences and Pharmacy. In the future, the University College Groningen and cultural student centre Usva will also be housed here, and the area as a whole will become a green and lively area."

UMCG board chairman Henk Snapper adds: "The new building of the Anda Kerkhoven Centre is important for all students who will be trained here to become doctors, medical specialists, dentists or movement scientists. In addition to this new building with the UG, we at the UMCG are also faced with a major building challenge in the years ahead. For instance, we are going to build a new 'Centrum Acute Zorg', but we are also going to develop a new lab building together with the UG. As a result, we will soon have research and education clustered on the north side of the campus, while developments for patient care will remain clearly positioned on the south side. In this way, we will continue to work on the future of healthcare."

Landscape design

At this time, a green and attractive landscape design is also being developed that will contribute to a healthy living environment and have a positive effect on the climate in the city. To this end, the UG and the UMCG are working together with the Municipality and Campus Groningen. Felixx Landscape Architects & Planners will soon present the detailed plans.

Design Anda Kerkhoven Centre

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.

> Read more about the design by KAAN Architects

Facts & figures

• 12,246 m2 GFA
• 10 floors including basement level with bicycle storage and installations
• 3 larger lecture halls for 250, 200 and 80 people
• 56 project and computer rooms for 12 to 50 people
• 230 study and landing places
• Food court and to-go retail facility
• Internal connection to ADL 1 and ERIBA

Building team

Follow the progress of the construction: