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2022, 3rd Prize

Institute Building Kassel University Read more

The Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences is to be moved to the inner-city campus of the University of Kassel in several steps. The competition comprised the design concept for the Institute Building for Physics and Nanostructure Sciences and an outline of the following buildings.
The challenge was to translate the complex relationships of the areas of use into a communicative and flexible building and to place the new building effectively on the polygonal, sloping construction field at the central pathway of the campus.
We decided to divide the building into a wide-span reinforced concrete skeleton base and a light upper structure made of wood. The highly sensitive clean room section was placed in its own building at the back of the institute building.
The robust, two-story base accommodates the public teaching areas and the highly installed, structurally sensitive work areas. Main entrances on the north and south open the building to the two plazas on Campusweg. A wide staircase inside the building continues the set of steps between the two squares to the exterior, closely interlocking the public areas of the new building with campus activity. The lecture halls and seminar rooms of the institute are located here.
Above the base building, the smaller-scale facade of the offices appears as a slender ring around the inner courtyard. Due to the lower structural requirements and small-scale spatial structure of this area, a low-tech wood structure of shallow depth would lend itself here, receding from the courtyard facades to improve exposure to the interior courtyard facades and create a smaller imposed load.
For the Department of Biology and Mathematics, we propose a block to the south with deep, flexible-use spaces that give both departments their own address on the campus plaza. The new building for the chemistry department continues this urban figure in the northern area. Paths between the new buildings connect the campus with the green corridor to the east.

Projektdetails
Competition 3rd Prize, 2022
Client State of Hesse

Competition
Project Management: Petra Wäldle
Team: Constanze Knoll, Bastian Gerner