On Monday 11 March, during the kick-off of Circular Economy Week, a new building was unveiled in the station area. Indeed, on the grounds of The Field was the opening of the Smart Building (SMRT Building). An unveiling that was festively celebrated on the green space next to the station.
The SMRT Building is part of the Dutch Windwheel: a sustainable and innovative concept presented by a Rotterdam consortium back in 2015 as a new crowd puller for the Maas city. In recent years, the building stood behind Blijdorp’s bison enclosure. Here, however, the building did not always come into its own, due to the pandemic outbreak just after it was installed. However, the building is demountable and therefore could well be rebuilt on a new site. It is now built and installed on the premises of The Field, part of Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship PLNT. Yesterday, the opening was celebrated festively with all stakeholders, including the municipality of Leiden and the mbo Rijnland.
Innovation in Leiden
The SMRT Building will be used as a physical experimentation and education site and so will be further developed with the latest technologies. Thus, students from the mbo Rijnland will use the SMRT Building, as well as students from the CIV Smart Technology. They, together with companies, will work in the building with technologies such as wind, solar and thermal energy to make this house even more intelligent, sustainable and green. In this way, they generate valuable insights for city policymakers and businesses and can help with digitisation and making homes and commercial buildings energy-friendly.
Are you, or do you know, someone to whom a cool collaboration comes to mind? If so, be sure to get in touch with The Field team.
