Zernike Tower, Groningen | 'Zernike Tower' gives students a hotel experience

Groningen currently needs around 3,300 new student rooms. Developers Borghese Real Estate and Urban Developers are responding to this with the realisation of a new apartment complex on Hoogeweg, with 467 'regular' student houses and 231 short-stay flats. The so-called 'Zernike Tower' is located near the Zernike complex, where various studies of the University of Groningen and Hanzehogeschool are located, and with a height of 74 metres it will become image-defining for the city.

The Zernike Tower consists of a low-rise and a high-rise building, with 698 flats ranging from 20 to 40 square metres. On the upper floors of the high-rise building, 19 maisonettes will be set up, with two floors of living space and stunning views over the city and surrounding areas. "With the Zernike Tower, we focus particularly on foreign students," says Johan Spriensma, real estate developer at Borghese Real Estate. "For them, we are creating a hotel experience with fully upholstered and furnished flats, including their own kitchen, bathroom and toilet. The building will also house a gym, a study area, a laundry and an area where students can cook and eat together. In the plinth of the building, there is space for light catering."

To add cachet to the façade, a painting by well-known Groningen painter H.N. Werkman has been abstracted and incorporated into glass panels. Photo: Egbert de Boer.

Masonry facades with special eye-catcher

To design the new building, Borghese Real Estate and Urban Developers sought collaboration with INBO Architects and Delta Vorm Group, who designed a U-shaped complex with a spacious courtyard garden where students can meet in a low-threshold manner. Moreover, the courtyard garden forms the deck of the underlying car park. "To match the other buildings in the industrial zone, the new building features masonry facades with red and brown bricks," Spriensma explains. "Moreover, to give the facade extra cachet, a painting by well-known Groningen painter H.N. Werkman* has been abstracted and incorporated into glass panels."

Earthquake-proof

The starting point for the new building was that it should be a rational building, with a unified organisation, clear floor plans and optimal building operation. "Moreover, the construction had to be tunnelable," Spriensma says. "To ensure a high construction speed and to come out well with the costs, we opted for one standard bay size for all houses. Moreover, to make the building earthquake-proof, it was decided in cooperation with contractor Geveke Bouw and structural engineer Zonneveld to place the entire new building on 'sliders'. This allows the subsoil and foundations of the new building to move freely in the event of a quake, without causing permanent structural damage. Moreover, this ensures the safety of the residents."

The Zernike Tower is expected to be completed in January. The first students will move into the building in the second quarter of 2020. "Before that happens, the final floors will be completed, upholstery, furniture and final installations installed and the grounds laid out," Spriensma says. "The operation will be done by NIDO on behalf of real estate investors Round Hill Capital and KKR, who recently bought the new building together."

* H.N. Werkman was part of the painting collective De Ploeg, the artists' association that 'shook up' cultural life in Groningen at the beginning of the 20th century.