OMA          Educational Project | Undisclosed Location

Competition work proposes an initial concept for the future Department of Astrophysics of a very well esteemed university in North America.

(1) On the ground level, a Planetarium acts as the attractor for the public, but also as an important teaching tool and the building’s most distinctive feature. (2) For focused study with spaces for collaboration, chance encounters and a consolidation of teaching and workshop, a two-story expanse lifted above the dome of the planetarium creates an urban field for the collective lives of teachers and students. (3) Above the Plateau, offices and lab clusters are arranged around a cascading series of larger meeting and lounge spaces that provide a zone for smaller-scale and even impromptu group work. (4) The top of the Plateau is a 1,588-square meter elevated park space that provides a respite and place for conversation, contemplation, and gazing at the stars.