Teaching Centre

By Phyllis Richardson - 30 April 2014

The Teaching Center is made up of two rectilinear blocks that sit on either side of an open terrace. Covered in a skin of rusted Cor-Ten steel, the buildings present not only a weighty solid, as against the dynamic curves of the Learning Center, but sharply defined angles. The material, too, bespeaks solidity and mass. However there is a great sense of lightness here also. Some of the steel cladding is not solid, but is actually light-filtering mesh, used for window shutters.
Inside the contrast between the weighty exterior and the abundance of natural light is striking. Numerous skylights and atrium spaces draw in light from many sources and angles. Bands of windows run around the perimeter on the ground floor, making for a large, bright open-plan space punctuated by freestanding columns and open stairs. Within this space, the auditorium sits as a separate volume. Clad in Cor-Ten steel, it makes a connection to the exterior of the building and plays on the contrast of light and dark, solid and transparent.
The collection of new and experimental architecture here all in one place is startling. It resembles more the ambition of an Olympic village than a university campus. The latter usually begins with a cluster of similarly styled buildings before growing to include such variations in style and form. However, the unifying of the campus along a pedestrian route does bring the buildings together even with their disparate characters. Perhaps the campus resembles the ideal student body in this way, diverse but joined in the focus on enlightenment.