A vertical campus in the city

In its project for the LCI School of Design, Circular Studio establishes a balanced play of full and empty spaces, connecting with the surrounding public space and the Mediterranean landscape of Spanish Barcelona.

When new architecture emerges in Barcelona's 22@ district, expectations are high. In the old industrial neighbourhood of Poblenou, that is still undergoing a transformation, 22@ means many things: it is a commitment to new technologies and innovation, an emerging area of creativity and entrepreneurship, and a space that tries out urban pacification and increases the city's vegetation. The architectural projects that will be installed there are in the spotlight to align themselves with all of this.

The new building of the School of Design and Visual Arts LCI Barcelona has been designed by the architectural firm Circular Studio, with a programme that envisages it as the European hub of the international network of its universities, with the capacity to receive more than 3,000 students. Immersed in the urban fabric that extends the grid pattern of the Ensanche, designed by Cerdá, the building and its relationship with its surroundings has been conceived as a ‘vertical campus’.

Circular Studio approached the ground floor as a permeable area, which is set back from the perimeter of the building to expand the public space. It has also designed a glass enclosure that enhances transparency and visual continuity. The school has a double access, via a bridge that crosses it, and connects two public spaces, the street and a square, with a ramp designed as a staircase. “The ground floor blurs its limits and is incorporated into the urban space. The square becomes a space of coexistence for students and neighbours”, explains the Circular Studio team, led by architects Ivan Serrano and Fernando Ansorena.

Again, between the third and fifth floors, the glazed facade is set back, generating a continuous exterior circulation strip that surrounds the library and connects with what the architects call the "elevated plaza" of this urban campus. Located in the heart of the building, it has unbeatable views of the sea, linking with the city's Mediterranean landscape. It also takes advantage of the breeze and is sheltered from direct sunlight by the cantilever that protects it.

Circular Studio's project establishes a play of balances between closed and open spaces, breathing air and expansion into this ‘vertical campus’. It also enhances it through the four-storey entrance hall, which is sunken towards the first floor minus one, with respect to the street level, providing light and visual axes. This is the starting point for the students' social and relational journey. A metal staircase in this quadruple empty space leads to the first floors. We go from introversion to extroversion on the third floor.

The architects have designed the circulation around the perimeter and parallel to the facade. In doing so, they have added multiple functionalities: it is a space that acts as a sunscreen, a space for interaction, for work or for a display. “Just like the alternation of solid and hollow in a classical portico”, they point out, “the rhythm of the facade blurs the limits between inside and outside and makes the route an experience.”

The level of the entrance from the street and the square marks the physiognomy of the building and its two large areas. The volume above ground level houses the classrooms, library and study areas, plus the school administration and management offices, in an alternating indoor-outdoor layout that is always connected to the city. The building below ground level becomes a large open space for the students, which extends under the public square, with rooms for flexible use, laboratories and manufacturing workshops. They are illuminated by the light coming from the ground floor through the foyer, and by circular skylights dotting the paving of the neighbourhood square.

The physiognomy of the facade is the result of a detailed study of solar incidence according to the different orientations. It always follows the same premise: it is closed to direct sunlight to avoid glare. And it makes the most of the entry of indirect light: externally by means of aluminium panels, and internally with a panelling of wooden boards finished in white. Circular Studio points out that the choice of aluminium as a facade material gives the building the ability to interpret the environment and the light.

All images © Salva López / Circular Studio