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2020 GFD 🏆 Awards

3rd Award: Loyola University Campus by luis vidal + architects

Located in Seville, Loyola University Campus aims to be the first 5G Campus of the world: technology, accessibility, sustainability, integrity and responsibility are the key concepts around which this university campus revolves, placing it at the forefront of the 21st century educational and architectural scenarios.

3rd Award- Global Future Design Awards 2020
Firm | luis vidal + architects
Architect/Designer | Luis Vidal
Category | Educational Built
Team | Luis Vidal, Óscar Torrejón, Francisco Rojo, Pedro Portillo, Andoni Arrizabalaga, María Astiaso, David Fernández-Feito, David López, Patricia Allona, Alba del Castillo, Eva Couto, Carlos García Criado, Álvaro Mayoral, Carlos Peña, Giovanni Pulcioni, Rocío Alonso
Country | Spain
Photographer/Copyright | ©Víctor Sájara

As a first design approach, site and program needs where exhaustively analyzed with a “glocal” vision that bets on thinking globally and acting in response to local requirements.

In this regard, due to the extreme Sevillian meteorological conditions, a special attention was paid to solar control. As a result, this first handicap turned out to be the opportunity to give the Campus a shape and an identity based on the local architecture and developed with the latest technologies:

Deeply inspired by the traditional Andalusian squares and courtyards, the project consists on a sequence of indoor and outdoor spaces where a careful study of volumes pursues the shadow-casting. Together with the tradition, the project takes the lessons learnt in Heathrow T2 Airport and works the textile technology, designing an external element, “the sail” that controls the light coming inside the buildings. These “sails” give rhythm to the facades, and in combination with the cantilevers, they unify all the volumes under a one-and-unique character.

The notion of community, the need for flexibility and the commitment to sustainability are the 3 pillars on which the project stands in order to achieve the 5G aspiration:

On one side, community is promoted and enhanced by the architectural scheme, organized in two axis: the longitudinal axis (also known as knowledge axis) where the cafe, admin, labs, and classrooms are located; and the transversal axis (human axis) that hosts the library and the chapel. The crossing generates a piazza, conceived as the heart of the project, the place to meet and share, a space that acts as a catalyst for ideas.

On the other side, the campus is designed as a tailored suit that adapts to the University needs: it can expand, modify and extend according to present and future requirements due to one block, the classroom piece, that can be repeated along the knowledge axis on demand.

Finally, sustainability ties the whole scheme together: as an answer to the environmental issue, every single aspect of the project, from the idea to the external appearance, including site location, shapes and space, is designed to ensure energy efficiency. In combination with passive systems, active ones such as solar panels or water control systems are implemented.

Through its architecture and design, materials, games of light and shadow, technology and energy strategies, Loyola University Campus provides a framework that looks forward to fostering, promoting and inspiring the 5G education of the 21st century ahead.