Utrecht has ca. 340,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth city in the Netherlands, including 30,000 students. Located in the east of the city, the university campus used to consist of detached buildings, floating in green meadows. In the 1990s the university decided to densify the sprawl according to a masterplan by OMA. A cluster of unusual faculty buildings was created, with the Educatorium by OMA and the University Library by Wiel Arets as highlights.
From Uithof, a short coach ride takes you to the Waterline Museum, a more recent highlight of Dutch architecture. Focussing on the history of a military defense line, which enabled the Dutch to inundate large areas of their country in case of war, the building is constructed inside an old fort. The shape of the concrete structure follows the topographic lines on site.