JUBILEE

Entropic, in collaboration with the local architecture studio, Studio4Space has released the design for the new Jubilee building for the University of Economics, in Krakow, Poland The proposal was selected as one of the finalists for the prestigious architecture competition organized by SARP against 17 other teams.

As the world is liberating the conventional static office space, into spaces that are refocused on inter-collaboration, creativity, and social interaction, so must our educational spaces follow. By understanding the role of community, the dynamism in peoples learning habits, and the higher education movement towards self-learning, our buildings must not hinder, but actively propel the movements to new heights. The design challenges the conventional norms of a university building by not just looking at the direct functional spaces, but instead reimagining spaces in which people conventionally flow and turning them into active spaces for bringing together people and ideas. The public spaces collectively function as a forum, stimulating active communities of learners, to further develop and propel ideas worth sharing!

The project is wrapped in a necklace of different forums, creating a loop, of interior and exterior spaces for studying and opportunity. The entire building can be walked around by climbing open atriums up to the conservatory, then gently descending the external stairs on the west side of the building through the roof gardens and down to ground level.

The vertical division of the façade is in line with the typology of the façades of the neighboring buildings, acting as shutters preventing excessive overheating of the building and direct light. From the perpendicular angle, the building appears open and light, yet at more acute angles, appears solid and powerful straddling the dichotomy of the archetypical campus and archetypal financial institution. The rigidity of the volume is then broken down, through the expression of the public spaces, bringing life and activity to the façade.