Description
A new campus site for University of Rostock in the Südstadt district is to provide an academic centre for environmental science, engineering, mathematics, and natural science. The particular urban idea for the campus is based on alternating building sites and green spaces. The architects developed a master plan reminiscent of a chessboard. Precisely defined green spaces take turns with staggered building sites.
The institutes for biology and chemistry, first to be built, are almost identical in terms of cubature, plan arrangement, and architectural design. Although both facilities have their main entrances facing Albert-Einstein-Straße, each entrance retains its own presence as a result of the chessboard-pattern.
Both institutes show a classic courtyard scheme. The lecture hall buildings supplementing the two U-shaped institute buildings enhance the spatial qualities of the ensemble. These qualities are pronounced by the fact that the buildings’ perimeters consistently cover the 60 x 60 m plots.
Due to their particular typology, the new institutes create a clear spatial hierarchy within and outside the complex. Both institutes and lecture hall buildings are accessed via the courtyard. Located in the centre of the buildings, the courtyard becomes the ”foyer space” of the complex.
The structured façade composition clearly reveals the position of individual functional areas. Entrance and foyer areas of the buildings housing the lecture halls received full-height glazed corners. These prominent areas form an interesting contrast to the main entrance to the institutes, which lies opposite. The façades of the long laboratory slabs and entrances consist of ventilated facing brick layers and a flush-mounted glass-aluminium structure. Both laboratory wings, which are organised differently, allow for great flexibility in terms of room sizes and uses. The regularly equipped offices connecting the two wings are arranged across the corridor. The long and narrow laboratory wing has a classic central access corridor with laboratories facing west (away from the courtyard); secondary rooms like storage, cell culture rooms, or air-conditioning rooms face the courtyard. This rhythmically sequenced and fully glazed corridor forms the visual link to the courtyard (”foyer space”). When seen from the courtyard, the frosted glass façade panels of the secondary spaces create an appealing chessboard pattern.
The shorter laboratory wing is based on a layout with two parallel double-loaded corridors. The enclosed central dark zone is penetrated by transverse corridors in order to ensure short distances between the laboratories. The different number of storeys (chemistry: three, biology: four storeys) and a few differences in terms of interior fit-out can be ascribed to the different programmes and the specific user requirements.
Drawings
Originally published in: Hardo Braun, Dieter Grömling, Research and Technology Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2005.