Educational: The Latest Architecture and News

Steven Holl Architects in collaboration with BNIM Architects, has won the commission for the new art studio facility for the University of Iowa (UI) Arts campus.

The new building is to replace an original arts building from 1936, which was heavily damaged during a flood of the University of Iowa campus in June 2008. The proposed site is directly adjacent to and northwest of the Art Building West, designed by Steven Holl Architects, which since its opening in 2006 has received numerous awards, including the AIA 2007 Institute Honor Award for Architecture.

More info after the break.

The Rolex Learning Center at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland will open its doors on Feb 22th.

The building, designed by the acclaimed Japanese firm SANAA, features one of the most impressive concrete surfaces I have ever seen, creating a fluid space for students to enjoy. Interesting comments by Ryue Nishizawa on the relation between organic forms in architecture and human life. While the building is a perfect rectangle when seen in a plan view, the curves and slopes which define the interior space give the building a totally organic look.

More photos after the break.

Architects: Debbas Architecture Location: Dalian, China Client: YIDA Group Project Year: 2010 Photographs: Debbas Architecture

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French architects Atelier Phileas have won a competition to design an elementary and primary school along with 150 students housing in Paris, France.

More images and architect’s description after the break.

Work AC, in collaboration with Edible Schoolyard NY and the Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse Foundation, is designing a new schoolyard for PS216 that will offer the young New Yorkers a different learning experience. The Edible Schoolyard is designed as a series of interlinked sustainable systems where the building will produce energy and heat, collect rainwater, process compost and sort waste with an off-grid infrastructure.

More images and more about the school after the break.

OMA in association with Leigh & Orange Architects have won the international competition for a 28,000m2 campus for the Chu Hai College of Higher Education in Hong Kong.

The project consists on two 8-stories tall parallel volumes with a rich public space in between, housing three faculties (arts, science and engineering, business), with 10 departments and 2 research centers.

What I like about this project is how OMA incorporated the multidisciplinary focus of this college, trough a rich public space between these two volumes, a topography with library, cafeteria, gym and lecture theaters, which given its ramps, steps and shaded platforms, generate several different spaces for socializing, meeting, studying, etc. So, students from this 3 faculties will flow into this central public space, mixing together.

This project is led by Rem Koolhaas, General Manager of OMA Asia (Hong Kong) David Gianotten and associate Chris van Duijn.

More images after the break: