The new faculty building for architecture, urban and landscape planning is the latest expression of this - though certainly not the last. Standing at the top of a broad external stairway, the structure forms a dominant element on the campus, marking the end of the central north-south axis. To the west and north are refurbished older buildings which were once part of the former weaving mill and which now house working space for architectural students as well as a number of chairs of the faculty. Proposals also exist for further buildings for the faculty of mathematics and natural sciences on a large area of waste land to the east.
Common to all the new structures is an irregular pentagonal or hexagonal layout with a central courtyard. The new faculty building by raumzeit takes the form of a narrow, elongated hexagonal complex, the south face of which overlooks the lower-lying centre of the campus. The main entrance is oriented to the north and the refurbished older structures. Here, the new development is raised above the ground over more than a third of its area, creating a covered forecourt, from where one has access to the glazed entrance foyer. This space can also be used for exhibitions. On the ground floor at the southern end are two seminar rooms.
On the upper floors, where the building assumes its regular hexagonal form, the internal spaces are lower in height. This is counteracted, however, by the three-storey covered atrium in the middle. With its peripheral galleries and ample staircases, it is the central meeting place of the faculty. Daylight enters from above through five large domed roof lights with asymmetrically splayed, exposed-concrete reveals.
As animated as the forms of the atrium may be, the basic layout of the building is quite simple. The offices of the various institutes, the student association and the deanery are situated on the long faces. Uniform room depths and mainly lightweight partitions allow functional and spatial changes to be made if required. At the ends of the building, the architects located functions that require more space, in particular, further seminar rooms and the two-storey faculty library.
Internal uses are reflected in the external divisions of the facade. Slender, vertical aluminium sections at 1.25-metre centres articulate the office faces with their recessed windows. The larger rooms at the ends of the building, on the other hand, were designed with extensive areas of flush fenestration. The ground floor spaces have room-height glazing, while the concrete balustrades on the upper floors are covered externally with screen-printed glass panels. Hand-operated ventilation doors in the metal-clad bays of the facade allow a natural air intake and extract.
