Administration Building 

ir. Frans J. van de Seyp (Werkgroep Kokon BV architecten Rotterdam), co-architect P. Laman.

Contractors: Building combination Heilijgers; construction firm De Vries Emmeloord/Almere/Nieuwegein.

In the original design, a roof garden was foreseen on top of the protruding meeting room for the university council (now: Van Lier Eggink hall) at the ground floor. Due to budget cuts it has not been created. Landscape design: Kuiper Compagnons, Arnhem.

• Decision by the Executive Board (at the time: 'College van Curatoren') to concentrate     the administration of the University in De Uithof: 1971, partly in existing buildings (Van Unnikbuilding)
• studies: early 1970s
• Decision of the Executive board to build one (new) administration office: 1975 
• first draft: end of 1977
• last draft: 1981
• first pile: Apr. 1982
• highest point reached: Mar. 30, 1984
• start of usage: Nov. 1984
• Officially opened on May, 1st 1985 by drs. Wim Deetman (Minister of Education)
. Nov 1 2021 - Oct 31 2031, eastwing (2.795 net sqm) rented out to UMC Utrecht.

18,400 sqm, gross volume 62,600 m3.

The building was designed to accommodate 250 (!) employees.

Budget: 37 million DFl. (1981) VAT included as well as supervision. The building is designed on the basis of the 'vastbedragmethode' for schools (maximum amount per cub. m.) in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Education at the time.

The artist who created the seven columns at the entrance is the Dutch-German Peter van de Locht (1946) from Millingen. They are 4 m. high and are made from white marble and red with black granite. They are placed in a geometrically shaped pavement. At the time Peter van de Locht was teacher of spatial and sculptural design at The Arnhem School of the Arts. Between 1989-2005 he was teacher of sculpture at The Utrecht School of the Arts and lived and worked in the Netherlands and China. In 2008 he was appointed professor of Sculpture at Shanghai University, Arts and Crafts Department.

On the southeastern side of the central hall of the building, there is are glass panels at the height of the first floor. Abstract, geometric shapes of coloured glass have been applied here. This use of glass, designed as integral part of the building, determines the atmosphere of the central hall through the choice of color (black, blue, red and yellow). The artist is Jan Van Goethem (Den Bosch, 1929).

The administration building has a long and tedious history of revised designs and budget cuts. As early as 1971, the board of the university decided that the administration should be moved to 'De Uithof'. Originally the lower floors of 'Van Unnik' building were chosen for this purpose. The building department had already held office in this building and could remain there, according to this plan. However, in 1975, the decision was overturned and one new administrative building was strived after. In 1980 a concept design was handed in at the Ministry for approval, but it was turned down because of the necessity to demolish the existing power station.

The present building was designed in 1981. One of the last efficiency measures was to reduce the amount of gross sq. m. by means of enlarging the offices at the cost of introducing smaller corridors. For some, this impracticality is still a nuisance.

The main characteristic of the building is its sober character. To give the building measurable dimensions, the long facade (120 m.) was interrupted by simple loggias at regular intervals. When inside smoking was abolished, these have proven themselves useful to the smokers in the building for a number of years. The walls are made out of prefab MTI split blocks ('breukstenen') for economic purposes. This principle was derived from the building of public housing and was thought to provide some feeling of representativeness. The building frequency is 4.80 m. and the depth of the building is 4.80 m. and 13.20 m. respectively.

In the spring of 2006 part of the western part of the ground floor (one layer) was demolished to make space for the construction of student housing project Casa Confetti.