Kjaer & Richter Architects, Navitas Park, Denmark

Kjaer & Richter Architects designed the Navitas Park, a 39,000 square meters project, which will host the Aarhus School of Engineering, Aarhus School of Marine and Technical Engineering and the INCUBA Science Park in Denmark.

From 2014 more than 2,000 students, lecturers and professionals will occupy Navitas Park, Denmark’s largest low-energy building, on the new waterfront in Aarhus.

The goal of Navitas Park is to create an outstanding center, to be the leaders for knowledge in an innovative environment for energy, environment and construction education, the location, at the heart of Aarhus, establishes it as a first class environment for learning, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Navitas Park has a very ambitious green profile, meaning that the building will use only a fraction of the energy normally consumed by a building of this type. It is an independent goal for the building to appear as an international beacon of energy conservation and use of energy technologies.

With its impressive location, the building also represents a unique opportunity to demonstrate and highlight the development potential of sustainable state of the art energy technologies, supported by the architecture.

University of Technology, Denton Corker Marshall, Sydney

The Broadway Building, for the University of technology, is expressed as a singular sculptural object, and will become part of the university’s broader strategy to create a vibrant and connected education district.

Selected from over 60 entries in an international two-stage design competition, the design makes a clear statement as screens made of aluminum sheets are perforated with the “1s” and “0s” of the binary code and applied to the angled plates; so that the pattern created is a re-working of the binary sequence for ‘University of Technology Sydney Faculty of Engineering and information Technology’.

Concealed within are 12 floor levels above ground, with another four levels below, for research laboratories, lecture theatres, seminar rooms, teaching laboratories, academic and administration offices and car parking. Publicly accessible uses include a lecture complex, student union and retail outlets located to activate street edges.

A crevasse-like linear atrium penetrates the basic volume both vertically and horizontally, around which the teaching, learning and social spaces are distributed for function and flexibility. The crevasse provides natural light and pedestrian access through the building, and directly links the UTS education precinct to the local neighborhood.

An extensive range of environmentally sustainable design initiatives make a substantial contribution to achieving best practice standards in the Faculty accommodation. The design targets a minimum 5-star Green Star rating, and is expected to deliver an energy saving of 30- 45%, a potable water saving of 20-30% and a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over benchmark tertiary educational buildings with similar functional spaces.

BIG + Fuglark, Education Centre - Faroe Islands

Designed by Danish architects Bjarke Ingels Group and Faroe Islands architects Fuglark, the Faroe Islands Education Centre, situated on a hillside on the outskirts of Torshavn, resembles the radiating structure of a vortex, has a panoramic view overlooking the sea, mountains and harbor and will be the largest educational building project in the country’s history.The stunning, 19,200 sq m Education Centre, will be housing 1,200 students and 300 teachers, combining a secondary school and two colleges in one building.
At the school’s heart is an open rotunda space, creating a natural gathering point across floor levels and academic interests, creating a sense of community for learning and life.
A stepped interior reflects the undulating Faroe landscape with its alternating plateaus, stairwells and terraces serving different social and academic activities.
The generous surroundings provide unique opportunities to shape the school from the inside out ‐ as a functional sculpture formed by the schools internal needs.