No permit (yet) for repair and new BG5 building
The construction of the new University Library in the University Quarter is making steady progress, but the adjacent new building may be delayed: an external advisory body of the city was not convinced by UvA’s plans.
At issue are the plans for the BG5 building, which previously housed the political science program, among other things, which the pyramid-shaped cafeteria Atrium ‘leans’ against. The plan foresees that the foundations of the building are to be restored and for a new building to be built on the site of the current pyramid, which will be demolished. The structure would house the Faculty of Humanities.
Not convinced
Last summer, the UvA submitted a draft permit application for the renovation and a new building to Amsterdam's city center to increase its chances of getting the green light for a final application. In assessing the draft application, the district council sought advice from the Committee for Spatial Quality, an independent advisory body of the city, which considered the draft application in a public hearing. It turned out that the committee was not convinced by the application on a number of points. Usually, when a final application is made, the city follows the committee's advice.
The key question in assessing the application was whether the plans proposed by the UvA would sufficiently respect the existing historic qualities and do justice to the spatial and cultural-historical values of the building in its surroundings. According to the committee, this is not the case. The committee says it “appreciates” the ambition and meticulousness of the planning, “but the whole is too compartmentalized and fragmented and lacks integrity. The program seems very extensive and an optimal design and appropriate interplay between old and new is lacking. There is a lack of harmony between the various plans.”
Uncertain planning
Thus UvA's planners have to get back to work to see which parts of the plan for BG5 need an addition or an adjustment before submitting the final permit application. That takes time, which, according to the UvA, makes the planning “uncertain. And that, in turn, may affect the construction schedules of other University Quarter projects that are dependent on each other, in part because of their location.”
Another project involving the BG5 building concerns the demolition of the Theo Bosch Pavilion and its replacement with new construction. Initially, the UvA wanted to demolish the pavilion, but after receving considerable resistance from the neighborhood, the UvA backtracked. For now, the FGw's administrative staff resides there.
