Opening New Complex Academic Centre For Dentistry Amsterdam

The Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), a collaborative venture between the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and the VU University Amsterdam (VU), has new main premises at the Zuidas in Amsterdam. The official opening will take place on Thursday, 25 November 2010. Professor Robbert Dijkgraaf, president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), Professor Dymph van den Boom and Professor Lex Bouter, the Rectores Magnifici of the UvA and VU respectively, will conduct the opening ceremony.


The building was designed by Benthem Crouwel Architects, with the ACTA's three primary functions in mind: teaching, research and patient care. Patient treatment takes place in the low-rise building, so patients can quickly find their destination. The teaching activities are also concentrated in the low-rise building. The offices and laboratories are located in the high-rise tower. All the activities are conducted around the atrium, which forms the heart of the new building.


27,000 patients


The new building occupies 25,000 m2, and has thirteen floors and 248 treatment spaces. There are forty Simodonts, simulators which students can use to practice dental procedures in a realistic virtual environment. With 900 students, 500 staff members and 27,000 patients, the ACTA is the largest dental faculty in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe. Every day, approximately 350 patients receive dental care. Half of all Dutch dentists are trained at the ACTA. In addition to training students to become dentists, the ACTA offers postgraduate courses and specialised study programmes.


The new building also houses the Stichting Bijzondere Tandheelkunde (Foundation for Special Dentistry, SBT) and the Inholland University of Applied Sciences' Oral Hygiene study programme. ACTA's main premises are in Amsterdam with additional branches in Almere and Hoorn.


Sources: Universiteit van Amsterdam (UVA), AlphaGalileo Foundation.