SENEZH MANAGEMENT LAB

Dutch firm Mecanoo has been selected as the winner of an international competition to masterplan the campus of the school. The winning project comprises three functional areas: a learning zone, park zone and waterfront. The architecture organically responds to the landscape, with the natural environment framing both the buildings and the views.

Programmed with various activities, the voids in the forest are linked by the current path structure, which is to be reinforced with new connections.

Mecanoo’s design for the Senezh Management Lab brings together lecture halls, a library, a winter garden, classrooms and apartments under a single wooden roof. The complex shape of the canopy allows for an efficient use of space while uniting future specialists, teachers and campus guests within a single entity. Timber paths and pavilions seek to create a strong identity as well as a serene atmosphere.

The main campus building, the Agora-Senezh, recalls the agoras of ancient Greece where they formed the central public spaces of cities. Conceived as a single environment without corridors or hierarchy, the building contains educational buildings that facilitate new methods of learning, promoting community, plurality, and diversity.

“The life of the campus will be concentrated in the agora, promoting encounters between students, staff, professors and invited guests,” explains Mecanoo. “The complex connects and expands towards the park integrating architecture within the natural landscape, making the entire natural park a place for learning and recreation also.”

Meanwhile, the park zone is a vast area occupied by forest, which offers a wide range of outdoor activities including bike paths, hiking trails, and sports fields. A concert venue, dance floor, open-air cinema and pavilions of ‘silence’ and ‘free communication’ also form part of the plan.

The added landscape structures act as a platform for open-air activities that could extend towards the surrounding neighbourhoods. A program for temporary functions is included in the campus vision, seeking to ensure a harmonious and flexible use of space all year round.

Via designboom | Images courtesy of Mecanoo