DESCRIPTION BY THE ARCHITECTS…
A NEW SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
A. A NEW IDENTITY
The key for a new school is its ability to set a stage and scene that
define a cultural identity. A new building must contribute to making
that scene and identity. Here, what the building does is as important
as what it looks like. The building must act as a generator, activating
spaces as well as defining them.
B. THE THREE GENERATORS: SOBRIETY AND EXUBERANCE
Our project starts from the following thesis: Architecture can generate
interaction. Through their programs as much as through their spatial
organization, buildings can intensify social or cultural interfaces.
Our project consists of two sober wings that define a space activated by exuberantly colorful generators. The wings are made of precise pre-cast concrete, while the generators are clad in varied yellow and red ceramic tiles, and nature (the royal palms). The scheme strives to capture the imaginations of passersby and to suggest a melting pot of cultures.
C. MOVEMENT IN THE SHADED COURTYARD
The 102,000 square-foot building arranges all the requested programmatic
activities around an event-oriented central courtyard (60’ x
90’) that is activated by two generators on either side. One
generator contains a lecture hall; the other encloses an art gallery
/ reading room. Review rooms and a demonstration room also look over
the courtyard, allowing it to become a space for encounters, debates,
celebrations, dances, and end-of-year and architectural exhibitions.
Gathering together all of the school’s circulation and major
social and cultural spaces, the central generators shade the courtyard
during the morning and late afternoon. Whatever the attendance level
on a given day, the constant movement of students on the shaded steps,
periphery, and unprogrammed space above the lecture hall lends the
court a sense of liveliness and dynamism. Studios, classrooms, and
faculty and administrative offices open onto this large, communal,
multi-purpose, event-oriented courtyard.
D. ARCHITECTURE IS THE MATERIALIZATION OF A CONCEPT
If sobriety defines the studio and office wings, the red and yellow "generators" of
activities challenge the linear rigor of the wings. Here, forces inform
form. The movement vectors of the walkways and passages as well as wind
deflectors that cool the ground help define the geometry of the red and
yellow generators. These will be places for creating a culture for this
School of the 21st century, allowing FIU to contribute to the architectural
debate in Florida and elsewhere.
E. CONSTRUCTION ECONOMY: $130 Per Square-Foot Construction Cost
The major challenge of this project was the need to balance the extremely
low budget of $130 per square foot against the architectural ambitions
set by the university. The budget was $16 million (Project Cost) for
a relatively complex building made of five distinct entities, each
with their own enclosure, two of them featuring an irregular geometry.
Most ductwork, conduits, sprinklers, and even acoustical baffles had
to remain exposed for reasons of cost. Although the main expense was
the building’s enclosure, by combining structure and envelope
in a single material - pre-cast concrete - we were not only able to
meet the cost parameters, but succeeded in taking advantage of pre-cast
technology in an original way.
(PRE)FABRICATION AND ASSEMBLAGE
SYSTEM OF SUBDIVISION AND PANELIZATION
From the Universal to the Particular: Topological Sub-division
Conceived as topological entities informed by a system of circulatory and programmatic forces, the courtyard buildings are articulated through a specific sub-division system. This modular envelope adapts to different forms as required by the skin of the buildings. To respond to the very low total-building construction budget, these envelopes are sub-divided into a system of pre-cast concrete tilt-up panels that support a series of double-T beams. The same system of panels and double-T beams is used in the studio and office wings as well, allowing for spans of up to 75 feet in length. The pre-fabrication system within the controlled environment of the factory has the added advantage of providing a highly efficient and precise means of production.
With their geometries defined by three-dimensional digital models, the
panels are formed by pouring concrete into a series of finely crafted
molds at the factory yard. Once transported to the site lying sideways
on a truck-bed, the panels, whose 12'-6" widths are pre-defined
by highway bridge-height clearances, are hoisted up to their vertical
positions by a delicate web of cables controlled by the crane operator.
Workers on the ground help guide the panels onto anchor hardware already
embedded in the foundations. Panels are then fastened together by a
system of welding plates. The building structure is completed with
a series of pre-fabricated double-T beams that are placed on top of
the "ledges" of the concrete panels. The panels for the yellow
and red generators are further sub-divided with a modular layout of
8" x 8" ceramic tiles, which are recessed into the panel
to obtain a tightly sealed flush edge joint with the panel border.
The tile joints, control joints, expansion joints, and panel joints
are organized into a precise matrix that merges skin, structure, thermal
seal, and color to form one cohesive system offering multiple levels
of resolution.
