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The campus of the University of Utrecht is growing into something that might be called a city. The urban plan by OMA consists of a compact clustering of University related buildings leaving the intrinsic qualities of the existing landscape intact or even reinforcing them. Since student housing became possible in this area nightlife became an issue as well: a local bar was needed. The Café will serve as the informal center of the campus; a relaxed meeting place for professors, researchers and students. It will be positioned right under the Van Unnik Building, the 80 meters high logo for the University as a whole. This massif building is constructed with the Jack block system: a surreal construction method that builds the top floor on ground level, then jacks it up and constructs the next floor, again on the zero level. The last act is lifting all 21 stories to construct the first floor: a bizarre gravity-defying operation that sends Baron Von Münchhausen back to college. The Uithof Café is a 15 x 15 meter extension of the existing bookstore. The remarkable horizontality of that construction is extended with the oversized roof of the new cafe. The complex looks flattened by the big block. Since the floor height of the shop is not appropriate for a grand café the floor of the bar is sunken into the ground to a depth of minus 1,2 meters. This perfectly coincides with the height of the counter: you enter on top of the bar. The lowered position allows a new perspective on the public square: an urban conversation pit. The large roof of the café provides the ultimate location for a basketball court: BasketBar.
