Framing Leadership | Design Cooperative [DCOOP]

Excerpt: The structural grid framework is used here to tie together the various volumes housing the disparate activities of administration, student and guest housing and dining. The hybrid program of this building includes the administration for a residential campus, a guesthouse with rooms and dining area, and the directors home. It is placed on the campus in a commanding and central position. The challenge was to integrate all the requirements in a cohesive way.

Project Description

[Text as submitted by Architect] The hybrid program of this building includes the administration for a residential campus, a guesthouse with rooms and dining area, and the directors home. It is placed on the campus in a commanding and central position. The challenge was to integrate all the requirements in a cohesive way.

The structural grid framework is used here to tie together the various volumes housing these disparate activities. Spaces are scooped out in the frame to bring in lightness and to create public spaces at various levels. One such space is the triple height central volume which becomes the entrance to the building and also acts as a connector between the private residential and the public institutional zones of the campus.

The movement from this entrance space rising up from the ground through the open staircase, a bridge and corridors is choreographed to bring in changing views of the dramatic surrounding landscape.