Oba next lab
OBA Next Lab challenges the traditional definition of a library. It is a temporary structure designed to be disassembled, relocated, and reassembled. Its program is fluid and multifaceted: a library, workshop, café, platform, and pop-up stage all at once. Situated in Amsterdam Zuidoost, the project reconceives the public library as a dynamic social infrastructure that evolves with its community.
Commissioned by OBA, Amsterdam’s Public Library, the 1,175 square meter project is intended for a seven-year lifespan. It confronts two concurrent challenges: how to engage a digitally native and culturally diverse generation, and how to create architecture that is simultaneously temporary, circular, and civic.
Exterior - image by Absent matter 2024
Learning hill 1 to 50 model
Client: OBA (Public library Amsterdam) and TUMO
Project: Oba next lab Kraaiennest
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Program: Library, Cinema, Bar/Cafe.
Size: 1.175 m2
Status: Under construction
Status: Under construction
Team: Design by Matter Makers in collaboration with
A-W-R and Baz_studio. IMD (structure), Vink bouw (contractor), Atelier bouwkunde (engineering), Laureco (advisor building physics).
exploded axonometric
The building is organized around openness in spatial, material, and social terms. A continuous element, the learning hill, begins inside and flows outward into the public square. It functions as both seating and topography. The architecture refuses a single façade or formal orientation, embracing porosity instead. Glass enclosures define smaller zones while preserving a shared atmosphere. A single curtain allows the space to be reprogrammed in seconds.
Located next to Kraaiennest metro station, the site is part of a fragmented urban fabric. The architecture responds with lightness and transparency. The learning hill blurs the boundary between city and interior space. A transparent glass extension, reused from a previous project, forms a pavilion-like living room facing the public square. The building does not impose on the site but completes it.
Work in progress image by Melchior Overdevest
Work in progress image by Melchior Overdevest
OBA Next Lab is constructed from prefabricated two-dimensional timber panels placed on Stelcon slabs. The design avoids poured concrete, glue, or welding. All connections are dry-fit, enabling components to be dismantled and reused without damage. The building is temporary but deliberately robust.
Circular features include a single-truck delivery of all cross-laminated timber elements from Austria, repurposed photovoltaic panels from previous projects, and a glass façade reused intact. Flat-pack logistics and local finishing further reduce environmental impact.
The interior rejects traditional notions of formal reading rooms or silent zones. Instead, it supports a broad range of cultural activities: coding, music production, virtual reality, group work, performance, and casual socializing. The spatial strategy encourages informality, reflecting a generational shift in how knowledge is shared and space is inhabited.
Work in progress image by Melchior Overdevest