FASHION CRYSTALS
Fashion Academy in Rotterdam

Designed by Audun Hellemo

As a public building on an important site in Rotterdam, the program of the fashion academy is fragmented into smaller crystals, thus opening up the whole structure into a porous building where the built mass is relating to the actual program, while the gaps between are social spaces used by both guests in the academy as well as people in the city. Where the facade in a traditional building defines the border between inside and outside, the crystal structure makes the whole building a facade, or the facade the whole building. The use of different types of glass with different degrees of transparency, the crystals receives light from the social gaps and abstracts the surrounding city. In the social in between spaces the connection to the urban surroundings is not abstracted, but directed towards particulatities in the neighbouring area. The crystal structure also allows for a more flexible use of the space; the large open plaza in the middle of the building can be used as a public space, as an extension of the surrounding crystals or completely independent with the crystals operating with the circulation system. The structural system of the building is based on many small heavy units on the lower floors supporting the lighter, bigger units with large spans on the top. The structure is then a combination of concrete and steel structure, clad in whitish materials with different textures and degrees of reflection. Slight shifts between the different crystals create shadows that define the volumes more clearly.

Teacher's comment:
Mechthild: With such an ambitious project you have to work 3000%