During the Spring semester 2020, students and teachers at the Tampere University School of Architecture have worked on the theme of a New Research and Social Hub for the Hervanta Campus within the Architectural Design VI course (ARK-04127), held at Master’s level for 4th year students. The course site was the Sähkötalo building on the Hervanta campus, in connection to Tampere University’s plans to concentrate all the University’s research laboratories in one single building on the Hervanta campus.
The course, organised by the professorship of Public Building Design in collaboration with the Tampere University’s Campus Development Team and University Properties of Finland Ltd (SYK), focused on the design of new research and teaching premises together with areas for social interaction in partial substitution of the Sähkötalo building.
Through their design projects, students suggested proposals that entailed a variety of urban, typological, and spatial solutions, concentrating on the promotion of spaces for social interaction while developing high-quality research and teaching premises that ensure use optimisation and the future maintenance of premises.
79 students took part in the 2020 Architectural Design VI course, 30 of them international students. The responsible professor is Associate Professor Fernando Nieto. Teachers in the course were Rosana Rubio-Hernández, Maria Ahokas, Teemu Paasiaho, Simon Kay-Jones and Ville-Veikko Vilenius. Jens Richter from estudio Herreros (Madrid) was invited as guest lecturer.
The Sähkötalo Research Hub Exhibition was launched on May, 25th within a broader event at University level on the general plans for the Sähkötalo building, organised by the Tampere University’s Campus Development Team and University Properties of Finland Ltd (SYK). It can be visited online here.
[Image by students Sini Hurri and Nella Rajala]