Much more than «Square». Learning Center for the University of Saint-Gall by Sou Fujimoto
03/03/2023.
[St. Gallen] Switzerland
metalocus, ANTONIO CORREDERA
metalocus, ANTONIO CORREDERA
Learning Center for the University of Saint-Gall by Sou Fujimoto. Photograph by Gataric-Fotografie.
Learning Center for the University of Saint-Gall by Sou Fujimoto. Photograph by Gataric-Fotografie.
Project description by Sou Fujimoto
The building designed by Sou Fujimoto for the University of St.Gallen (HSG) is based on the concept of creating spaces that facilitate innovative types of learning and interaction with students, teachers, the surrounding nature and the neighbourhood. The name SQUARE refers to the public square in front of the building, where the focus is on meeting and exchanging. The grid of the building structure, with dimensions of 10 by 10 meters, also draws on the shape of the square.
The spatiality of the building unfolds vertically with 4 floors and 92 terraced cubes, which take the contour lines of the St. Gallen landscape as a reference and allow SQUARE to enter in dialogue with its environment.
The cubes offer a total of 7,000 square meters of floor space, rooftop terraces are planted with greenery, and indoor and outdoor spaces are related to transparent surfaces. Internally, the structure is designed so that the layout of the rooms can be changed repeatedly: transparency and flexibility are at the core of the vision of the St Gallen University and HSG foundations, creating a highly functional learning centre which allows for sustained use over its lifespan.
The spatial units are intended to fuel the different aspects of learning: communication, concentration, collaboration, and interaction. Through this objective, the structural design is intended to provide maximum flexibility and shape new ways of teaching and learning for today and tomorrow.
Learning Center for the University of Saint-Gall by Sou Fujimoto. Photograph by Iwan Baan.
Learning Center for the University of Saint-Gall by Sou Fujimoto. Photograph by Iwan Baan.
Four pillars give shape to the project that breaks the traditional image of the master teacher as a source of all wisdom, by symbolically and physically releasing ourselves from the classic classroom typology:
These elements strongly resonate within the project and create a unique space where students and university members can freely interact and connect with the world beyond.
A structural challenge
The construction includes two terraced upper floors, a ground floor and a basement. It is characterized by a floor-to-ceiling window front drawing the axial grid, which provides interaction with the landscape. The square floor plans allow for a variety of different learning environments to be reimagined. At the centre of the building is the atrium, which extends over three floors and provides a special, inspiring atmosphere of encounter through the incidence of natural light.
Learning Center for the University of Saint-Gall by Sou Fujimoto. Photograph by Maris Mezulis.
The reinforced concrete structure, which is designed in exposed concrete in visible areas, spans a grid of 10 meters x 10 meters x 5 meters. With its cubic concept, the building is also staggered in height and condensed towards the top. Through the columns and beams, the atriums emphasize the intended "open grid" in the interior and allow a visual view between the floors. A special challenge was the realization of the crosswise visible connections between the columns and post-tensioned beams and slabs. To lighten the colour of the exposed concrete, 60% white cement was added.
The 10-meter spanned slabs are designed as joist slabs with a slab thickness of 35 cm. An ecologically effective technology was used, which reduces the emission of environmentally toxic pollutants by up to 20 per cent and the primary energy demand by up to 22 per cent. The hollow core slabs reduce the slab mass in the layout by 20 per cent. With the savings in concrete mass, the building's seismic performance is sustainably benefited, and a more economical foundation is achieved.
The clear and visible structural concept with its primary elements - column, beam, ceiling - makes the load-bearing effect of the spatial concept legible to visitors and students. The apparently comprehensible structure does not yet reveal all its secrets to visitors, such as that of the free-floating spiral staircase that follows the load and connects the projecting floors in the atrium. It is equipped with internal torsion prestressing, which, in addition to holding and supporting, improves rigidity, making the vibrations appear at a comfortable level. The free stairs in the atrium enliven the sense of space and make walking through the SQUARE a lasting experience.
The result is an open, non-hierarchical, and transparent space, one where everyone may find what they need and grow to become themselves.
Sou Fujimoto was born in Hokkaido, Japan on August 4, 1971. In 1994 he graduated in architecture at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo. He established his own architecture studio, the agency Sou Fujimoto Architects, in Tokyo in 2000, and since 2007 a professor at Kyoto University.
He was first noticed in 2005 when he won the prestigious AR – international Architectural Review Awards in the Young architect’s category, a prize that he garnered for three consecutive years, and the Top Prize in 2006.
In 2008, he was invited to jury these very AR Awards. The same year he won the JIA (Japan Institute of Architects) prize and the highest recognition from the World Architecture Festival, in the Private House section. In 2009, the magazine Wallpaper* accorded him their Design Award. Sou Fujimoto published “Primitive Future” in 2008, the year’s best-selling architectural text. His architectural design, consistently searching for new forms and spaces between nature and artifice.
Sou Fujimoto became the youngest architect to design the annual summer pavilion for London’s Serpentine Gallery in 2013, and has won several awards, notably a Golden Lion for the Japan Pavilion at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale and The Wall Street Journal Architecture Innovator Award in 2014.
Photographer: David Vintiner
Burckhardt+Partner AG Zurich is a Swiss architectural and general planning practice with sites in Basel, Berne, Geneva, Lausanne and Zurich. The company was founded in 1951 in Basel. In 1981, it was converted into a stock corporation. Around 50 members of the management staff, partners, associate partners and associates hold responsibility and share in the commercial success as shareholders. The partners constitute the company management.
Samuel Schultze is current CEO of the company, Delegate of the Board of Directors and responsible for the Basel Site since 2010. He studied architecture and urban development at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and obtained his diploma in 1983 from Professor Dolf Schneebeli. In 1996/97, he completed the General Management course at the WWZ Centre for Economics of the University of Basel. In 1985, he joined the Muttenz branch of Burckhardt+Partner AG as a young design architect. He is member of the company management since 1993.