Amsterdam-based architecture firm NL Architects has completed a forum that has multifaceted surfaces in Groningen, The Netherlands. 

Called Forum Groningen, the 17,000-square-metre building serves as a multifunctional building in the center of Groningen. 

NL Architects' building, also described as a cultural department store that is filled with books and images, offers exhibition spaces, movie halls, assembly rooms, restaurants. The forum aspires to become a platform for interaction and debate, a "living room" for the city.

"Forum Groningen is NOT a library, NOT a museum, NOT a cinema, but a new type of public space where the traditional borders between these institutes will dissolve," said NL Architects.

"Information will be presented thematically in a way that transcends the different media," the firm added.

The building is designed as single clear volume to express the desire for synergy, to strengthen the shared ambition to combine different facilities into one new compound. A series of careful cuts nails the building on its site and generates a multitude of different appearances.

Image © Deon Prins

Forum Groningen features an exceptional central space, an innovative atrium that with its horizontal ‘tentacles’ forms the pumping heart of the venue. 

The void works as a spatial interface that binds all functions, movie theatre, book collection, expo, auditorium, and as such hopes to catalyze the exchange of knowledge and ideas. 

Image © Deon Prins

A series of stacked ‘squares’ emerges that can be experienced as the continuation of the network of open spaces in the city of Groningen. 

The vertical squares are publicly accessible and provide entry to the ticketable activities. The specific layout offers continuously changing perspectives on the surrounding city and culminates in the roof terrace, a viewing platform and outdoor theater.

Image © Deon Prins

Forum Groningen has been engineered "to accommodate finding not searching". The design stimulates exploration. It hopes to catalyze the desire to wander, to ‘browse’ endlessly through a staggering interior landscape.

Site plan

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Section interior

Section C-C

Project facts

Project name: Forum Groningen 

Architects: NL Architects

Location: Groningen, Netherlands

Size: 17000 m2

Date: 2019

Lead Architects: NL Architects

Design Team: (NL Architects) Pieter Bannenberg, Kamiel Klaasse, Walter van Dijk, Thijs van Bijsterveldt, Florent Le Corre, Sören Grünert, Iwan Hameleers, Sybren Hoek, Kirsten Hüsig, Mathieu Landelle, Zhongnan Lao, Barbara Luns, Gert Jan Machiels, Sarah Möller, Gerbrand van Oostveen, Giulia Pastore, Guus Peters, Jose Ramon Vives, Laura Riaño Lopez, Arne van Wees, Zofia Wojdyga, Gen Yamamoto with Christian Asbo, Nicolo Bertino, Jonathan Cottereau, Marten Dashorst,,Rebecca Eng, Antoine van Erp, Tan Gaofei, Sylvie Hagens, Britta Harnacke, Jana Heidacker, Sergio Hernandez Benta, Johannes Hübner, Yuseke Iwata, Cho Junghwa, Linda Kronmüller, Jakub Kupikowski, Katarina Labathova, Ana Lagoa Pereira Gomes, Qian Lan, Justine Lemesre, Amadeo Linke, Fabian Lutter, Rune Madsen, Phil Mallysh, José Maria Matteo Torres, Victoria Meniakina, Shuichiro Mitomo, Solène Muscato, Lea Olsson, Pauline Rabjeau, Thomas Scherzer, Michael Schoner, Martijn Stoffels, Jasper Schuttert, Bartek Tromczynski, Carmen Valtierra, Elisa Ventura, Benedict Völkel, Vittoria Volpi, Murk, Wymenga, Qili Yang, Yena Young, Alessandro Zanini.

Clients: Municipality of Groningen

Engineering: ABT

Interior Design: NL Architects i.c.w.: deMunnik-deJong-Steinhauser, &Prast&Hooft, Tank, Northern Light.

Building Engineer (incl Geotechnical): ABT

Structural Engineer: ABT

Top image © Deon Prins

All images © Marcel van der Burg unless otherwise stated.

> via NL Architects