University

This international student dormitory with a mixed population of approximately 300 international and Japanese students was established by Toyo University as an SGU (Support for the Creation of Super Global Universities) in promoting internationalization. The site is adjacent to the Toyo University Akabanedai Campus, which opened in 2017, and is located on higher ground from the surrounding residential area. The continuous slope from the campus creates an elevation difference of approximately 4 m within the site, so the layout of the building to harmonize with the topography and surrounding environment became the key planning point.

The urban structure of the campus was largely formed in the 1930-1937 period and is enlisted as a whole in the cultural heritage register. It contains 8 modernist heritage buildings erected up to 1939 with several later additions of soviet era architecture. The new building is situated on the eastern part of the site, as recommended in an analysis of the campus conducted by heritage specialists in 2011. The building dedicated to education and scientific research is a single volume of 49m by 44m, 11.88m in height, containing 3 floors above ground and 1 underground.

The proposed building is the first stage of a series of recommended interventions within the master plan proposal developed earlier for the University. The project was based on an urban premise that intended to improve the interaction of the university’s campus with the immediate surroundings. As a result, a public square that defines the main connectivity axis was envisioned, to articulate not only the proposed building, but also the rest of the campus inscribed within the urban block, and the city.

The College of Life Sciences is a graceful example of a building that combines programmatic requirements and response to a specific site and environmental conditions to create a unique and wholly appropriate college for the study of art and the environment. This exceptionally site-responsive building is notable for its dramatic, angular sloped façade and its cladding of striking, desert-colored, textured material. The array of diamond-shaped forms—perforated metal panels—filter natural daylight and shade the interior from the harsh sun. The color intensity of the golden structure changes with the sun’s movement throughout the day, much like the surrounding desert. The angular geometry of the panel array is echoed in the building footprint and surrounding landscape features. 

Three elliptical green and white steel-framed towers, a glass-faced auditorium with a street frontage, a new public piazza, and a raised “hanging garden” are the key distinguishing elements of the Rectorate of Roma Tre, a striking new development designed by Mario Cucinella Architects at the heart of Rome’s third university.

The CEU Moncloa Campus in Madrid includes various university buildings built at different times dedicated to teaching and research. The new building designed by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos for the Faculty of Humanities and Communication Sciences is located on a triangular plot in the Colonia Metropolitana de Madrid.

La Escuela Bancaria y Comercial (The Banking and Commercial School) is located north of Mérida and is the second campus of this institution in this city; the new building is located in a growing area and seeks to serve a greater number of students. For the development of this project, three particular factors were taken into account that determined both the layout of the building and its materiality and operation: the program, the terrain, and the bioclimatic characteristics of the region.

The Rubenstein Commons at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, NJ, established in 1930, is a new commons building on the historic campus. It is sited near the Institute’s flagship 1939 building Fuld Hall where Albert Einstein spent his last thinking years.