classrooms, workshops and faculty offices
location: piura, peru
client: universidad de piura
design team: s. barclay – j.p. Crousse
project team: d. leininger
built surface: 9500 m2
completion: 2016
photographer: c. palma
prizes: Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize 2018 / Obra del Año 2019 (ODA award) Archdaily / XVIII Bienal de Arquitectura del Perú - 2018 - Hexágono de Oro
publications: C3 407 - 2020 / Arquitectura Viva 211 - 2019 / Detail 3.2019 - 2019 / En Blanco 26 - 2019 / Plot 44 - 2018 / Arquine 85 - 2018 / Summa+ 154 - 2016 / Casabella 868 - 2016
The facility is conceived as an extension of the arid forest of Carob trees that characterize the northern Peruvian desert, providing shade in a hot and dry climate.
A new generic classroom and faculty offices in the University of Piura campus is the opportunity to give the students the needed space for informal learning between classes, potentiating wide open circulations protected from sunshine and glare.
A constellation of 11 buildings is linked by a system of ramps and alleys, courtyards, and gardens within a square perimeter of 70 x 70m. Five typical units are assembled within this square to produce a great variety of open but protected spaces for students and faculty members, with facilities like informal reading spaces, cafes, meeting rooms, and reception.
