FiftyTwoDegrees | Mecanoo Architecten

Type: 1st prize in the 2002 competition
Project: FiftyTwoDegrees, Business Innovation Centre
Architect: Mecanoo architecten
Location: Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Total area: 70,000 square meters
Completed: 2008
Structural Engineer: ARUP (competition)
Client: Ballast Nedam Bouw, Arnhem ICE Ontwikkeling, Nijmegen
Architectural Drawings courtesy Mecanoo architecten
Photographed by Christian Richters

FiftyTwoDegrees, a Business Innovation Centre with 86 meter tall tower stands on a slope and is fluidly yet excitingly absorbed into surrounding Goffert Park. The lower eight floors of the seventeen-story tower are ten degrees out of plumb, creating an inviting gesture towards the city.

The façade is made of aluminum and glass in a unique and whimsical pattern. In order to shorten the construction time – one floor per week – it was decided to use prefabricated cladding, resulting in a pattern of pixels that gives the facade an abstract appearance.

The architect’s talk, construction progress and other relevant information of this project are available in FiftyTwoDegrees.

Site Plan

Typical Carparking Floor Plan