STUDIO VELOCITY

This multipurpose facility contains a language study lab, IT center, presentation space, lounge, and bus shelter. It’s sited on a slope that extends across a four-meter height differential. Our decision to transform the slope into a grassy hill was the basis for our design. The facilities our client wanted were very small compared to the site and the area around it, which formed a 3500-square-meter courtyard. Clumping the facilities together into a ‘box’ would make the surrounding buildings feel distant and wouldn’t yield an environment encouraging casual visits. We therefore decided to spread the facilities out around the sloping site, resulting in a building of uncommonly low density. (So low, in fact, that it’s hard to distinguish the hill from the building.) Our goal was to create a single environment where people could play soccer on grass, read beneath a roof, and use computers with friends: an environment where indoor and outdoor activities blend seamlessly; An architecture that’s low-density, like the outdoors.

source: studio velocity