On a recent trip to Europe, I had the opportunity to visit the brand-new Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Vienna) campus, a well planned university campus which was recently built from scratch.
The campus consists of 5 buildings along a jagged spine. Rather than aiming for consistency, all of the buildings are distinct designs by great architects.
The architectural contrasts are enhanced by the crooked campus spine which provides dynamic perspectives and opens up into a series of unique spaces for students to hang out and interact along the way. There’s also a whole network of side paths and parks all around the fringe of the new campus which is really intimate in scale meant to relate to the adjacent park.
The orange and yellow administration building was designed by Sir Peter Cook and CRABstudio.
Masterplan diagrams by BUSarchitektur
At the centre of the campus spine is the spectacular library by Zaha Hadid. A huge cantilever creates a great sheltered plaza under that portion of the spine.
The building is typical Zaha, with dramatic curves and angular forms.
Images by Jonathan Choe
