UVA University Campus
Spain CCC ES
José Ignacio Linazasoro
Ricardo Sánchez
2011
Type
University
Tags
university campus , Spain ccc
Visitability
Allowed
Description
The project arose from a competition organised by the University of Valladolid in 2004-2005. It envisaged the construction of a university campus in Segovia, with the aim of bringing together, in a single location, several faculties that were scattered throughout the city. With a surface area of approximately 15,000 m2, the plot is divided in two by a street that crosses it perpendicularly. This makes it possible to organise the campus in two areas: one houses the library and common services; the other, the faculties, the vice-rectorate and the assembly hall. This article refers to the first of these areas.In this area, a large covered space was built to house the common classrooms, located on its perimeter, and the library, in the centre, with three floors connected by stairs. The aim was to provide the university and the city of Segovia with a large meeting place revolving around the library, a place to hold activities beyond those of the university. In order to make the space open-plan, the reading areas of the library were designed in the form of towers hanging from a structure supported by only four pillars each. The library also features a pit from which users can access the circulation desk and the towers. In this way, it is isolated from the common space but at the same time integrated into it. Additionally, the interior and exterior materials create a sense of continuity, which gives the interior space the feel of a covered outdoor space. On the outside, the building blends easily into the urban scale thanks to the fragmentation of its volumes and its recessed roof, which is not entirely visible from a short distance away. Such fragmented exterior contrasts with the scale of the interior space as one enters the building.Second phase: With the first phase already finished, this building completes the Campus programme. It basically consists of classrooms, faculty offices, an auditorium and a graduation hall.Between the first phase, executed in 2011, and the second phase, there is a two-level interior street or ‘spine’ that penetrates the plot of the old barracks in two sections, allowing the existing neighbourhood to be connected with the old site where construction is planned in the coming years. The ‘spine’ of the Campus thus links its two phases, serving as a transversal bridge.The programme comprises specific classrooms for the degrees taught on campus, offices, an auditorium and a graduation hall, thus complementing the first phase.The perimeter of the building is articulated around two streets, Caño Grande and Coronel Rexach, with the two representative spaces – the auditorium and the graduation hall – located on the central axis, as is the case with the library in the first phase.These two spaces, reminiscent of enormous wooden chests, are separated from each other by other spaces with high ceilings, lit from above, which reaffirm their formal independence and functional relevance. The volumetric independence is accentuated by the space beneath the assembly hall, over which it seems to levitate. This space is accessed from the ‘Ágora’ or covered plaza of the first phase. The route culminates in a large staircase under the auditorium that leads to the graduation hall. The graduation hall features a high coffered ceiling through which zenithal light floods in, underlining its importance as one of the main spaces in the building.The classrooms and offices are illuminated and separated from each other by landscaped courtyards. The classrooms are located on the courtyard level, while the two upper floors house the offices. The difference in width of the offices compared to the classrooms encourages the use of ring corridors on the office floors. The centre is occupied by glazed spaces for tutorials and small interior courtyards, which let natural light into the corridors of the classrooms.The use of wood-based finishes was intended to give the spaces warm colours and textures. Black was used as a secondary neutral colour to match the wood and, at the same time, highlight it.Depending on whether they face the street or the landscaped courtyards, the façades take on a very different character. When they face the courtyards, they have a domestic character, featuring a window elevation and a neutral dark grey shade. Conversely, when they face the street, they have a more abstract character, a repetitive, vertical rhythm that breaks with that of the first phase. The façades are made of precast concrete and feature warm, arid tones instead of the traditional grey.(Description provided by the architects)