BM3 Architecture was recently placed for an International Competition for a new Faculty of Engineering at the University of Cyprus.

The brief for this project was to produce a sustainable master plan the new University Building in Cyprus with opportunity for future expansion. This involved designing several buildings that include a Structural & Earthquake engineering laboratory, Department of civil & environmental engineering, Deanery & Common space, Department of electrical & Computer engineering and Department of mechanical & manufacturing engineering.

Render courtesy BM3 Architecture

To achieve these objectives of the brief it was decided that the departments MME, ECE and CEE should focus on a communal central space which will contain the Deanery, Common Use Spaces and Department of Architecture Spaces at the heart of The Faculty. The main entrances to each department will be from this central space. Users will converge in this space encouraging interaction and creating a focal point for all departments. Secondary entrances from the east and the west will create links with the rest of the campus. An open space at the centre of the site allows for good air movement and daylight penetration as well as opening up views of the Aronas Mountain and the Athalassa Forest. The circulation spaces in the square between departments are complemented by outdoor teaching and social spaces.

Render courtesy BM3 Architecture

It was decided that the CEE building would sit to the south of the site next to the road due the frequent deliveries of materials to the larger laboratories. This building is surrounded by a 'dry moat' allowing light to the lower level.

Site plan, drawing courtesy BM3 Architecture

The site layout encourages the interaction of students between departments through a central communal space. This concept is continued in the design of each of the department buildings. From the main entrance into each department you enter the department 'hub' illuminated by a north lit atrium. From this hub is access to the laboratory 'wings'.

Render courtesy BM3 Architecture

Concept diagram, drawing courtesy BM3 Architecture

Having divided The Faculty into separate buildings it is vital that it still reads as a whole. The laboratory wings are generally single aspect and face north-south with the corridor on the south side. The external walls to the corridors are largely glazed, and therefore, naturally lit protected from solar gain by horizontal louvres. The labs are relatively shallow in plan allowing for good day lighting and natural ventilation when required. East and west elevations have horizontal and vertical shading to control a range of sun angles. The inclined elevations around The Faculty Square also help to enclose the space and connection between the department buildings. These principles have been adopted on each department for continuity tying the building together.

The Structural and Earthquake Engineering Laboratory is designed as a landmark building on the southern elevation denoting the gateway into the site. The cladding is positioned giving the appearance of 'cracks' synonymous with its function.

Similar materials have been used on each department building for unity. The elevations are largely glazed. This was a key objective avoiding the need for artificial lighting and providing good views out improving the working environment and views in adding to the activity of the spaces around The Faculty. Other main facing materials are a fractal patterned aluminium cladding and fair faced concrete. The aluminium will have a matt finish avoiding glare issues. This cladding with the fractal pattern gives the building a machine like, 'high tech', aesthetic appropriate for this type of building. The main building structure is concrete due to its thermal properties and is expressed as a facing material where appropriate.

Aluminium louvers and canopies around the windows help articulate the elevation while moderating the natural environmental impact. The roofs are generally covered in a single ply membrane which can be easily formed to a curve where necessary.

Throughout The Faculty the colour green has been used. It has been a considered choice not just in its appropriate aesthetic qualities when set it the steel grey of the fare face concrete, but also in its mood enhancing properties. Being in the centre of the spectrum, it is the colour of balance .When the world about us contains plenty of green, this indicates the presence so we are reassured by green, on a primitive level. Green is associated with tranquillity and balance and also represents nature and harmony. This is the very essence of all pure engineering principle, where Man's endeavour to create and solve should ultimately lead to balance and harmony.

Render courtesy BM3 Architecture

Landscaping has been an important part of this master plan. A variety of external spaces have been created. The Faculty Square has a mix of larger open social spaces and tiered seating areas. External spaces have to be shaded to create a pleasant environment, and this is done not only by the placement of the buildings, and shading devices but also by the introduction of carefully selected trees.

Each building is designed to deal with the high summer temperatures and sunlight using sustainable solutions. Focus was given on the Orientation of the buildings on the site to ensure that solar gains can easily be controlled. Thermal mass has been introduced into the buildings fabric by exposing the concrete soffit. This will regulate internal temperatures and dampen and delay variations in outdoor air temperature.

Section, drawing courtesy BM3 Architecture

Careful consideration has been given to controlling solar gains. The facades facing south have a simple horizontal louvre to control mid-season and summer solar heat gains. The facades facing north make maximum use the north light using large windows and through good design need for artificial lighting has been minimised.

To reduce energy consumption, the aquifer beneath the site will be used for heating and cooling. The groundwater, typically at 18°C, will be used directly for cooling in the building without the need for an electric chiller for the majority of the year. 140m2 of photovoltaic's (PV) will be integrated into the buildings roofs. The PV will power the aquifer pumping system and all general mechanical ventilation fans. Solar thermal panels will be located on the roof to provide at least 50% of the annual energy to heat the domestic how water for the buildings.

BM3 Architecture has successfully achieved a University Building that sits harmoniously within its surroundings, reacting and working with its environment, but also, in creating a building that inspirers and compliments its users with elegant but practical, well-formed spaces.

+ Project credits / data

Project: Faculty of Engineering, University building of Cyprus
Client: University of Cyprus
Location: Nicosia, Cyprus
Cost: €45 Million
Architect: BM3 Architecture | http://www.bm3.co.uk/
Structural Engineers: Buro Happold
M&E: KAL Engineers
Program: Education

+ All images and drawings courtesy BM3 Architecture

Italian architect Cino Zucchi Architetti + Park Associati recently have completed the new Salewa International Headquarters located in Bolzano, Italy.

+ Read more about plans, elevations, sections and renderings in our earlier story.

Salewa International Headquarters, image courtesy Cino Zucchi

Salewa International Headquarters, image courtesy Cino Zucchi

The new Salewa Headquarters, one of the most prominent manufacturers in Bolzano, is situated in an exceptional location adjacent to the Bolzano highway suggesting a "landscape" building, in formal dialog with the surrounding steep cliffs. As well as housing new work spaces and an indoor climbing gym, the building aims to provide a space for interaction and communication between the company and its network of suppliers, partners and clients. The new headquarters represents a point of convergence between different elements of everyday life: from physical, social and communicative dimensions to work styles and leisure.

Salewa International Headquarters, image courtesy Alberto Sinigaglia

Salewa International Headquarters, image courtesy Cino Zucchi

Salewa International Headquarters, image courtesy Cino Zucchi

The Salewa headquarter is formed by a series of multifaceted slabs and towers, including a 50 metre-high structure which when built will be the tallest building in the city. The project combines an electro-coloured micro-perforated aluminium skin which protects the most exposed parts of the building with a large vertical glass covering. The resulting visual effect is that of a rock crystal. The interplay between the thin sheet metal-like pillars and the delicate protective layers frame the façades and underline the contrast between the visible and invisible areas. Situated in a particular geographic location, this complex represents a place of information exchange between the dense web of material and immaterial relations that constitute the life of a modern company.

Salewa International Headquarters, image courtesy Park Associati

+ Project credits / data

Project: Salewa Headquarters
Location: Bolzano, Italy
Site area: 30.595 sq/m
Volume: 146.248 mc
Cost: General investment: € 40 Mln.

Design phase (beginning and ending month, year)
April 2007 – October 2008
Construction phase (beginning and ending month, year)
July 2009 – October 2011

Architects:
Cino Zucchi Architetti, Milano
Park Associati (Filippo Pagliani, Michele Rossi), Milano

Design team:
Cino Zucchi, Filippo Pagliani, Michele Rossi
with Elisa Taddei (project architect), Alice Cuteri, Lorenzo Merloni, Marco Panzeri, Davide Pojaga, Alessandro Rossi, Giada Torchiana, Fabio Calciati (rendering).

Structural engineering:
Kauer & Kauer Ingenieure, Bolzano
Ing. Georg Kauer, Ing. Ulrich Kauer

Electrical engineering:
Energytech Ingegneri S.r.l., Bolzano
Ing. Gabriele Frasnelli

Mechanical engineering:
Energytech Ingegneri S.r.l., Bolzano
Ing. Georg Felderer

Site supervision:
Plan Team GmbH, Bolzano
Ing. Johann Röck, Ing. Rupert Cristofoletti

Climbing Wall consultant:
Ralf Preindl, Bressanone

Artistic Intervention:
Margit Klammer

Client:
Salewa SpA, Bolzano

Photographers:
Cino Zucchi,
Alberto Sinigaglia
Park Associati

+ About

CZA – Cino Zucchi Architetti

The Cino Zucchi Architetti studio is constantly searching new spatial solutions for contemporary life in the delicate and rapidly changing context of the European landscape. Its goal is to combine innovation and research with professional completeness capable of responding to complex programs on any scale and employing, when needed, a well-established net of specialized consultants.

The studio has designed and realized many commercial, public, industrial and residential buildings, public spaces, renewal plans and master plans for agricultural, industrial and historical areas. It has participated in numerous national and international competitions and is active in the field of interior and exhibition design. The works of the studio have received widespread critical acclaim and have been published in magazines both in Italy and abroad, and have been the subject of numerous exhibitions.

Major recent works of CZA include a large master plan for the Keski Pasila area in Helsinki, residential and office buildings for the former Alfa Romeo-Portello area in Milano, the Group M headquarters in Assago (Milano), the new Lavazza headquarters in Turin, and the extension and renovation of the Turin National Car Museum which was recently awarded the Inarch/Ance 2011 prize. The projects of the studio have been published in books and magazines worldwide.

Cino Zucchi

Cino Zucchi was born in Milano in 1955; he graduated at M.I.T. in 1978 and at the Politecnico di Milano in 1979, where he is currently Chair Professor of Architectural and Urban Design. He has taught architecture at many international seminars and has been visiting professor at Syracuse University and at ETH in Zürich. He is the author of the books L’architettura dei cortili milanesi 1535-1706, Asnago e Vender. Architetture e progetti 1925-1970, and is editor of the book Bau-Kunst-Bau. Together with Cino Zucchi Architetti, of which he is the principal architect, he designed and realized many industrial, commercial, residential and public buildings, a number of projects for public spaces, master plans and renewals of industrial and historical areas. The urban design of the former Junghans factory site in Venice was awarded a mention in the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award 2001 and in the Medaglia d'oro all'architettura Italiana 1995-2003, and won the Piranesi Award 2001, the "Comune di Venezia" Architecture Award 2005 and the Ecola Award 2008.

Park Associati

Set up in 2000 by Filippo Pagliani and Michele Rossi, PARK ASSOCIATI is an architectural design studio which works on a large scale. The investigation into the dynamics and flows in urban places forms the basis of a wide range of projects for the tertiary, manufacturing and residential sectors. Equally important for the studio is the planning of interiors which pays close attention to both craftsmanship and design. This adopts a transversal approach to the planning process and a vision that seeks to interrelate cultures and specializations, experiments with new technologies and is sensitive to the issues of sustainability and energy saving.

Such an approach opens up new possibilities in terms of scope and vision, and on each occasion gives rise to original compositional landscapes where architecture, place, technology and materials combine to create different spatial forms.

The projects on urban and architectonic scale underline the aptitude of PARK ASSOCIATI to research solutions that can combine local identity and technological innovation, this is confirmed by the recent awards in competitions and following realized projects.

The projects of PARK ASSOCIATI have been showed in several exhibitions and published in Italian and international magazines.

Filippo Pagliani
architect, Milan 1968

After completing a degree in Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano, he worked with Renzo Piano from 1992 to 1996 in Paris. He then went on to work in the Michele De Lucchi studio in Milan where he remained until 1999, the year in which he cofounded PARK ASSOCIATI. From 1999 to 2002 he was professor at ISAD (Advanced Institute of Architecture and Design). Since 1996 he has been professor responsible for the final résumé workshop for Construction Element Design at the Lecco regional branch of the Politecnico di Milano. In 2008 he was awarded a doctorate in "Building systems and processes" in the Faculty of Structural Engineering in the Department of Built Environment Science and Technology at the Politecnico di Milano.

Michele Rossi
architect, Milan 1964

He graduated in Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano in 1991 and from 1992 to 1996 collaborated with Michele De Lucchi in the studio of the same name. In 1996 he moved to London where he worked with David Chipperfield and Din Associates and during the same period was Visiting Professor at St. Martin's School of Art. In 1999 he returned to Italy where he cofounded PARK ASSOCIATI. He taught from 1999 to 2001 at the European Institute of Design in Milan, and from 1999 to 2002 at ISAD (Advanced Institute of Architecture and Design) and since 2005 has been a contract lecturer at the Politecnico di Milano.

+ Image gallery | photography by Cino Zucchi, Alberto Sinigaglia & Park Associati