Laval School of Architecture Great Court
The building housing the School of Architecture at Laval has seen a slow, incremental evolution. Now in its tenure as a school of architecture, that evolution needs a radical leap to continue to benefit the public and serve the school of architecture.
The courtyard's integrity has slowly eroded over its history. The north eastern edge historically reinforced the bounded nature of the court, but since the seminary building was built, that formal edge has whittled away, framing a jumble of buildings that once framed Nature, either cultivated or wild. This has led to its disintegration as a center, or heart, to the buildings that surround it. As a result, its relationship to the outside natural environment has also deteriorated.
Our proposal is to take the Great Court and restore its relationship to nature and re-establish it as the heart of the school of architecture and the surrounding colleges. The courtyard should serve as a break out and gathering place for the architecture school. It should serve as an intermediary to the outside, a kind of “artificial nature” that both students and the public can enjoy year round.
To do this, our scheme begins by simply roofing over the existing courtyard. The space created is build out of the context itself. The courtyard will house a permanent amphitheater that peals up from the ground, which can be used by the school, surrounding colleges and the public. It will also house a kind of plug-in circulation tower that helps draw students out of their studios and into a hanging breakout space for pin ups and study. This will build in a level of redundancy at the critical floor height change between the two parts of the school and bring the entrance to the school through the Court.
(Competitor's text)
12 scanned / 9 viewable
- Presentation Panel
- Presentation Panel
- Perspective
- Site Plan
- Site Plan
- Site Plan
- Axonometric Drawing
- Diagram
- Diagram
