Military Academy Laboratory Centre
Military Academy Laboratory Centre is designed as a joint project by FREA Architects and SCRA Architects
The centre is designed for education and research functions within the National Defence University campus in Ankara which was once used as the military academy. As the most prestigious structure of the campus, it has a closed area of 20.000 m2. The project is designed with the qualities of contemporary architecture and new technologies while considering the requirements of the military hierarchy.
Academic units are located at the top floors and they are connected to the laboratories, departments, classrooms, auditoriums and foreign language departments by means of vertical circulation shafts. This arrangement of the program helps the academic staff to have more isolated office spaces while enabling them to be in close contact at the same time.
The building block for teaching staff is placed above the fragmented education units on ground level. Educational units and instructors’ spaces are interconnected with an atrium to ensure spatial continuity.
Transparent meeting rooms extending towards the atrium and wide stairways hanging over the void provide a rich and impressive interior that is constantly perceived from the entrance of the building.
The educational units of similar departments and their faculty members are separated from each other with the condition that only vertical circulation links them together. The fragmented typology of the educational units is preferred in order not to influence the architectural program changes that could be encountered in the later stages of the project development phase. Moreover, the solution of the 8x8-meter axle system is a serious advantage for flexibility.
The atrium, which allows visual and physical communication, is a new experience created against the monotony of the usual working spaces. A single-loaded corridor principle is used to enable the atrium space to be perceived within the teaching staff block. Atrium area is also shaped to have the ideal scale and natural light quality for activities such as exhibitions, cocktails or publicity.
