AARHUS SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE_SEE YOU THERE!
The NewAArch building becomes a spatial device capable to gather and organize the different urban and green fluxes through its position and its formal
solution.
The articulation of the new district emerges from the continuity of the surrounding urban structure, as well as the continuity of the green wedge, with the aim to produce a porous system and a new hierarchy of urban
sequences.
The building, through its open-air foyer by the green wedge is a natural attractor for students, professors and visitors leading them to the building’s main entrance, whether they arrive from the Godsbanen center, the South-West public transport stops or from the area to the south. The preserved red Tarpaulin building is integrated in the green wedge system, standing in the centre of the open-air foyer: a signal that guides the visitors and represents the heritage and the past vocation of the area.
The ground level of the two main volumes that compose the building accommodates the public functions: the reception space, the exhibition space, the model workshops and the fabrication area for the prototypes.The foyer itself can host different activities related to the school, temporary installations and public events.From here you can reach all the diverse parts.
The upper levels accommodate the spaces related to studying and teaching. Every storey is made up of continuous and interconnected slabs with no restrictions. A simple 10x10m concrete structural grid, several double height spaces and expandable terraces for outdoor experimental works, grant the building a transparent feature. The high degree of flexibility of the structure allows to shuffle the program of the school in order to create multidisciplinarity and interconnections at all levels, defining a “boundary free” building, open towards the city and towards the building itself: an open study and learning
environment.
The southern facade incorporates a series of openable greenhouses and unconditioned spaces, performing as devices that control the buildings thermal behaviour. At the same time, in association with terraces at the different floors, the greenhouses represents a reserve of non-programmed space. Finally the roof is designed as a large open structure, adaptable to multiple uses (open air exhibitions, large scale mock-ups, meeting places, relaxation terraces, etc.), ready to host a future school expansion (up to 3000 sqm) by simply adding new facade modules. Additional 500 sqm can be constructed on the remaining platform as a light structure.
The highly flexible structure of the building is open to any further contraction of the school program as well, concentrating the reduced program in specific areas. The remaining free areas could be easily re-organized for sharing the building with other external activities.
