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A historical Dutch building’s adaptive reuse shows how preservation can drive progress

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Commissioned by Leiden University, the Herta Mohr project by De Zwarte Hond revitalizes and extends the Cluster Zuid building, originally designed in the 1970s by Dutch architect Joop van Stigt. - Eva Bloem
Once a collection of seven disconnected houses with dark interiors and limited cohesion, the building now offers 11,400-sq-m of flexible, future-ready space, including over 700 teaching and study areas, lecture theatres, meeting rooms and libraries for African and Middle Eastern Studies. - Eva Bloem
A strong emphasis on reuse saw concrete columns from the demolished central house repurposed for the extension, and locally crafted Sequoia redwood ceiling panels reimagined as wall cladding in the atrium. - Eva Bloem

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Located on Leiden University’s Humanities Campus in the Netherlands, the newly inaugurated Herta Mohr building demonstrates how thoughtful renovation can enhance and honour an existing design.

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