Vertical Campus | TALLER Architects

Vertical Campus | Universidad Central

Bogotá, Colombia

Category Education | Commercial
Job type 1st Prize, Private national competition
Date 2013-2019
Size 26,466 m²
Client Universidad Central
Collaborator TAB >| Taller de Arquitectura de Bogotá
Status Built
Awards 2A South & Central America Architecture Awards 2020, Public Category, First Prize Winner | XXVII Colombian Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2020, Architecture Project Category, Nominee - Shortlisted
Photos Pequeño Robot | Daniel Mora G

The stacking of open spaces

Masterplan

The building is the cornerstone of a Master Plan that defines the roadmap for the development of the an educational infrastructure located in downtown Bogotá. By inserting itself in a consolidated context, a balance is sought between the maximum construction envelope and the integration and recovery of heritage buildings.

Public Space

Inserted into a dense urban fabric, one of the main premises of the project is to contribute to the construction of a better city through generous and wide public spaces. The building creates a main access plaza to the campus and highlights the presence of the Central University. A covered portico space and a loggia articulate with the main square on the corner helping activate the commercial spaces on the ground floor.

The Vertical Campus

The central volume, being set back from the main street, generates the access plaza. The Vertical Campus is a strategy that seeks to multiply the amount of open / collective spaces in height, essential for university life. To encourage circulation through these spaces, each level is connected by a sequence of stairs and amphitheaters that generate different routes and establishes different relationships with the surrounding city views.

Inner Rooms / Interior Design

The meeting rooms were color-coded according to each floor level

Structure and Materiality

A building with a considerable size (26,500m2), the main premise, consisted in generating two parallel volumes with a concrete frame structure; connected by a central volume in a steel frame structure. The concrete towers, with a facade in precast concrete (north and south), contains classrooms, administration spaces, meeting rooms, etc. In contrast, the steel frame tower, with a glass facade (central), contains what we call the Vertical Campus: pedagogical spaces for informal learning and student wellfare.