Erick van Egeraat’s Groninger Forum fits in the tradition of tectonic public icons such as the City hall, the Koornbeurs and the Martinitoren. At the same time it virtually and spatially connects to the contemporary info-media-tainment world. EEA’s design features a series of dialectic plays between robust mass and transparency, weight and weightlessness, the Human and nature. Its shape makes it a self-possessed and self-confident icon, which both surmounts and cradles the surrounding city structure. From a distance the building seems tectonic and impenetrable, whereas from nearby it is open and accessible.
The sensual choice of materials and the play of light reflect the city’s desire for openness, lightness and transparency, represented through both cuts in the façade and cone and the manifold terraces which open out into the city.
The Forum’s softly notched shape infers a soft sculpted rock, part natural, part by human hand. It narrows towards the top and peaks with the transparent roof of the central cone.
Like a canyon, the central cone transects all levels of the building. Its reddish, earthly skin promotes a sense of nurture and warmth and yet the cuts breathe vitality and energy throughout the building by allowing shimmering natural light to penetrate deep into the core.
The building’s translucent alabaster façade contributes to this inherent play of diffuse light and shadows. At night, the building stands out as an illuminated beacon in the centre of the city.
competition 2006, second prize
