The project brief concerns the construction of an addition within the campus of the National University of Science and Technology Politehnica Bucharest, intended to accommodate four constituent faculties. To support its educational function, the building includes teaching and research spaces, along with administrative areas, a cafeteria, a data center, and technical spaces.
The new building, composed of several adjoining volumes arranged over six levels, takes on an L-shaped configuration, with the inner corner oriented toward the Rectorate building – a representative landmark within the campus. The space formed between the two buildings becomes a large garden conceived as a new gathering place, characterized by access walkways leading into the building and following the silhouette of landscaped vegetated hills.
The overall image seen from the campus is conceived as a continuous, unified block – a glass mirror façade. On the southern and eastern sides, a series of geometric differentiations appear through the insertion of volumes corresponding to the lecture halls, where the materiality changes to fiber cement cladding with predominantly solid surfaces.
A significant challenge was the need to modify the overall architectural image of the complex at an advanced stage of the project, which required revisiting the image and concept studies and rapidly implementing the resulting changes.
Taking over the project involved a comprehensive review of the initial design documentation, coordination with current design regulations and the office’s internal standards, as well as the detailed development of all component elements.