Research and Teaching

The spectrum of buildings for research and teaching is large, ranging from high-tech laboratories to high school buildings that include a variety of usable spaces such as auditoriums through to libraries. The two projects that are presented in the rubric “Process” represent this spectrum: the Fraunhofer Institute in Ilmenau, Germany, from Staab Architects, concentrates itself on the research that takes place there, with its special acoustic rooms and an introverted floor plan; by contrast, the Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, from Grafton Architects, is a multifunctional location for teaching. It expands on the city campus’ heterogeneous building ensemble with an auditorium, seminar rooms as well as numerous offices for professors. Basic planning directions on the topic of construction for research can be found in the article by Dieter Groemling, Head of the construction department at the Max Planck Society. His attempt to classify different floor plan solutions is shown by the examples he uses like the “E-Science Center” of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, from Baumschlager Eberle, or also the polytechnic building in Vienna, Austria, from Delugan Meissl. The introductory discussion article on the history of university construction rounds out the topic “research and teaching”.