Project Overview
The design project of the university space is an exquisite amalgamation of retro and technological elements, seamlessly blending the past and future into a harmonious whole. While preserving some of the existing structure, the designer has skillfully incorporated modern aesthetics, colors, materials, and lighting to create an entirely new space that is both functional and visually appealing.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
ALIDA YU-PING LI
Project Brief
The classroom design takes inspiration from the spatial layout of Harvard University's Lecture Hall, with improvements made. The primary objective of the design is to create an environment that promotes interaction between teachers and students. To achieve this, the seating and podium layout has been arranged in such a way that every student can see every part of the classroom. This encourages active participation, interaction, and speaking among students, leading to better learning outcomes.
The design is imbued with the imagery of a church and a forest, evoking a sense of serenity, communication, and elegance that is perfect for teaching. The space is akin to a spaceship, symbolizing a journey toward a brighter future, where hope, knowledge, and innovation are shared among teachers and students.
Project Innovation/Need
This project utilizes a subtractive design approach, which means that the existing structure of the space is preserved, while the appropriate function configuration is planned according to the user's needs.
The original partition layout and a portion of the ceiling structure were retained. Linear lights, LED lights, pendant lights, and flat panel lights were added, along with the reconfiguration of movement lines and the design of glass partitions. These changes significantly improved the space's permeability, continuity, directionality, and acoustic effect. Moreover, the classroom walls on both sides feature large floor-to-ceiling windows, which allow natural light to flood the space and create an open atmosphere. The ceiling is decorated with interlocking wooden strips and flat-panel lights, reminiscent of the sunlight and shadows of trees outside.
Design Challenge
To cater to the diverse needs of the users in the space, the team designed a lounge for both relaxation and communication, along with an upgraded version of the Harvard Lecture Hall as a classroom. This provides multiple possibilities for the users to relax, find inner peace, and interact with others.
Sustainability
To manage budget constraints, the large-scale lounge ceiling is not overly decorated. Instead, an open-frame mesh ceiling design is used to reduce resource consumption. Furthermore, organic fiber is used to create the open frame ceiling, with microporous sound-absorbing boards. This provides not only moisture-proof, weather-resistant, pressure-resistant, acoustic, and thermal insulation effects but also ensures non-toxic, non-polluting, and environmentally friendly safe building materials. Additionally, all glass and iron parts in the room comply with Flame Resistant Grade I CNS 6532 standards. This provides fire protection and creates a safe and environmentally friendly environment. This approach ensures that the space is not only safe but also contributes to global sustainability.
Interior Design - International Public or Institutional
This award celebrates innovative and creative building interiors with consideration given to space creation and planning, furnishings, finishes and aesthetic presentation. Consideration also given to space allocation, traffic flow, building services, lighting, fixtures, flooring, colours, furnishings and surface finishes.
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