Graduate School of Medicine and Faculty of Medicine Kyoto University -First Prize, invited competition

New Student Club House

Communication Space

Our strategy of global communication seeks to create a new Student Club House where the University community can interact with one another, converse, debate, celebrate, learn, relax. Communication is central to our strategy and our approach is comprehensive. At the scale of the city we have considered how the building talks to its surroundings. At the scale of the campus we have added a new place carefully within a sensitive setting. Within the building we have created flexible spaces for multiple functions with a focus on communication between students, teachers and the wider academic community that are an extension of the circulation and connect back to the landscape.

Urban Scale

The building mimics the scale of other blocks on the campus by forming it from smaller blocks- similar in scale to those beyond the edge of the site. These smaller elements create an open courtyard within the building and offer a more informal scale and plan suited to the brief.

Campus Scale

We will intensify the collegiate atmosphere of the campus with the placing of the new facility. By creating a compact footprint to the east of the site a garden can be created to the west side. A narrow corridor is created between the club house and the life science block framing views of the two green spaces beyond. The existing trees play an important role in the building. As well as creating a soft edge to the street, shared circulation and open spaces within the building offer glimpses of the trees beyond.