Photo: Wim te Brake

Photo: Wim te Brake

Photo: Wim te Brake

The Uurwerkersgang project was a collaboration between Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects, Tokyo and Hiromi Hosoya / Hosoya Schaefer Architects, Zürich. It was completed in March 2005 and opened as a guesthouse for the University of Groningen. The ground floor remains free for semi-public functions such as a gallery.

Photo: Wim te Brake

This project was initiated as one element of the Blue Moon project held in Groningen in 2001 and based on a concept by Toyo Ito (published in Shinkenchiku Nov. 2001). Next to the installations and events in the Europapark, a series of housing projects in the city were to combine new and old, public and private and create a conceptual link to the new Europapark developments.

The site is located at a narrow alley next to an existing brick building formerly used as a library. The project aims at creating a unified space combining the old and the new building. The new building facade is made from aluminum bricks. It is at once blending in with the brick façades along the alley and defining a new, light and transparent counterpoint on the historical street.

The aluminum bricks were manufactured in Japan and shipped to the port of Rotterdam. In the Netherlands at the manufacturing location of the local façade engineer, the bricks were assembled into three large panels, then transported to the site and assembled into one façade. No hardware was used for the assembly of the bricks. The bricks, manufactured by aluminum extrusion, were designed with joint details considering thermal expansion as well as contraction. The aluminum bricks support the exterior glass layer and its wind load. The bricks themselves are supported by the interior sashes connected to the reinforced concrete floor slabs.

Photo: Wim te Brake

Contact for more information:

HOSOYA SCHAEFER Architects
Hiromi Hosoya
Reinhardstrasse 19
8008 Zürich
Switzerland

T. +41 (0)43 243 6313
F. +41 (0)43 243 6315
office@hosoyaschaefer.com
www.hosoyaschaefer.com