Mecanoo was selected as the winner of the international architectural competition for the development of the Senezh Management LAB. The master plan highlights an architecture that responds to its surroundings and generates a rich environment with a diverse variety of functions and spaces.
Represented by three pronounced functional areas: Learning zone, Park zone, and Waterfront, Mecanoo’s winning campus scheme is framed by the natural landscape. Including lecture halls, a modern library, a winter garden, classrooms and apartments, the project puts together different types of spaces under a single complex wooden roof. Increasing efficiency, the development brings together future specialists, teachers, and campus guests. In fact, Mecanoo’s approach generated one strong identity for the Senezh Management LAB.
The main campus building, “Agora-Senezh”, located at the center of the learning zone, is imagined as the fundamental gathering place. Named after the Greek Agora, the key place of discussion and exchange of ideas in the city, the structure was conceived with the same principles, providing “a new generation of educational buildings which facilitate new types of learning styles, promoting community, plurality and diversity”.
Thought as one single environment, “a shelter for learning and a catalyst for progress”, with no hierarchy or transitions, the Senezh Agora connects all activities occurring in the space. Encouraging the development of ideas, “the life of the campus will be concentrated in the Agora, promoting encounters between students, staff, professors and invited guests”. Compact and flexible educational spaces accommodate modern study configurations. Placed at ground level, classrooms also promote maximum interaction and human face-to-face contact.
On another hand, the park offers a wide range of outdoor and recreational activities with bike paths, hiking trails, sports fields, as well as a concert venue, dance floor, open-air cinema, and pavilions are found on site. A temporary program for the park aims to keep the space busy all year round. Finally, both the architecture and the learning experience expand towards the park, integrating the natural component in the campus.
