AKA Future Campus Project

The aim of this architectural/micro-urban/landscape intervention is to adapt the existing campus into one that will enable knowledge-pursuing and learning activities of the academy. The environment´s topography is adjusted to connect fluently all the buildings, and the different materials are replaced with a continuous permeable surface that can be walked on and driven on by vehicles. This, to enable free circulation and performance of varied activities with the highest degree of flexibility and accessibility.

To contain the new spaces required by the program, an inquiry was made to find spaces that would be used for construction without reducing the exterior surface, that recieved enough sunlight and air without compromising other space´s needs, and serve as a connection of the spaces it was in contact with.

Three spaces spaces that fulfill this qualities were found. the interior courtyard of the old building (Altbau), the in-between ground of the new buildings (Neubau 1 und 2) and the terraces on top of the studios of the old building. This three “freiraum” possibilities would contain the new program:

Underground space between Neubau 1 and 2
Stone workshops
Archaeometry Laboratory
New Media

Courtyard Inside Altbau
Library
Archive

Terraces on top of altbau
Painting workshops
Restoration workshops
Administrative department

The three building proposals are an experimental approach for the development of network architecture. Traditionally (specially in modern architecture) spaces are connected to a general circulation and are separated according to categories and hierarchies. There are halls, offices, aulas, workshops, and every room has its specific purpose. These proposals try in different ways to develop architectural systems whose components can develop multiple relationships and several changing configurations in order to fulfill the complexity and dynamism of human nature.

The underground building is a modular network with an orthogonal geometry composed of square, nine-meter rooms, and small 3-meter connections. The rooms are enclosed by sliding glass walls and blinds that let the user control the relationships between spaces. Each space has different qualities depending on their relationship with the exterior, other buildings and within each other.

The second building, on top of the terraces of altbau had bigger constraints regarding the geometry, structure and functionality. The structural modulation is regular to adapt to the structure of the existing building conserving its axis dimensions. The interior aims to provide freedom and flexibility with a free floor, with few separations and dynamic furniture and separations such as curtains and shelves that can be easily modified by the user.

The third network architectural system began around the idea of a library and archive, nevertheless it escalated quickly to a different type of space. The academy itself is not a container, but a node for knowledge, that connects ideas, people and resources, the library (originally conceptualized to contain knowledge in books) now acts as an infrastructure for knowledge as s dynamic process, and so its architecture needs to be rethought. The geometry of this “library” is a three dimensional tessellation of hexagonal platforms connected to the halls, staircases and rooms of Altbau through small staircases. The object is intended not only to contain books, but as a place for human interaction, with other people and with knowledge sources such as research networks, databases and communities, rendering it as an infrastructure for complex human systems.

Further insights
Architecture, or more precisely: the built physical environment is not an infrastructure, but a continuous with the entire complex system, as architecture, human conduct, and knowledge interact and affect each other in such ways that we wouldn't be able to map neither compute.