Steven Holl Architects take first place in Future Campus Competition
Earlier this year, the Future Campus Competition was by launched by University College Dublin (UCD) and Malcolm Reading Consultants to find concepts for a new UCD Entrance Precinct Masterplan, including a Centre for Creative Design valued at 48m EUR. Now, a team led by New York and Beijing-based studio Steven Holl Architects has been announced as the winner, with a design referencing the Giant’s Causeway UNESCO World Heritage site.
The brief called for an urban design vision to foreground a welcoming entrance precinct, creating a stronger identity for the campus. Holl’s placemaking strategy uses the Design Centre as a gateway that leads to seven new quadrangles of open green space, intended to complement the campus’ historic features and woodlands. Company founder Steven Holl stated: “Our masterplan and the new UCD Centre for Creative Design are not just iconic objects − they reflect on the history and quality of UCD’s campus, responding to the particulars of the site to create place and space.” This approach was praised by Professor Andrew J. Deeks, UCD President and competition Jury Chair, who commented: “Holl’s vision is intriguing and striking – combining an iconic design for the Centre for Creative Design with a masterplan distinguished by a few considered, highly intelligent moves that open up the centre of the campus and use creative landscaping to intensify its natural beauty.”
The Centre, located next to a public plaza and reflecting pool, features prismatic forms inspired by the geology of the Giant’s Causeway. In a further nod to nature, the concept makes full use of natural light, captured by two vertical structures angled at 23 degrees to mirror the Earth’s tilt. As a making and learning lab, areas are provided for concentration and silence, while collaboration is encouraged by allowing students, faculty and visitors to peer into more the more open spaces through glass walls. Professor Hugh Campbell, Professor of Architecture at UCD and member of the competition jury, said: “Holl’s emphasis on daylight and social connection promises a building which will enable and encourage collaboration and interaction, a building which is open and welcoming, a building in which cutting-edge technologies and core creative practices can fruitfully combine.”
Holl’s studio was supported by Dublin-based Kavanagh Tuite Architects, US analysts Brightspot Strategy, structural engineers Arup, landscape architects and urban designers HarrisonStevens and climate engineers Transsolar.
Lucy Nordberg
TenderStream Head of Research
This competition was first published by TenderStream on 21.02.2018 here
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