Netherlands Forensic Institute / KAAN Architecten

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Text description provided by the architects. Located on the outskirts of Ypenburg in The Hague, the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) has a total of four floors, one of which is hidden in an embankment. The building is a glass volume encased in an openwork steel box that acts as solar shading. To ensure optimal solar shading on all sides of the building, the steel and glass boxes are slightly out of alignment.

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Stacked beside the entrance are the auditorium, library and conference centre. Directly behind the entrance is a long hall measuring 70 x 7 x7 metres. To left and right of this hall are three patios lined by cellular offices. The outermost zone of the building contains the laboratories, separated from one another by relocatable dividing walls.

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The columnar structure is concealed in these walls: between lab and corridor it takes the form of built-in cupboards; between the labs themselves the columns disappear in thick walls from which height-adjustable workbenches project.

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