Library and Canteen, HTW Saarbrucken

SAARBRÜCKEN CITY CAMPUS SCC - 2009 Main Building University of Applied Sciences Saarbücken Germany Invited Competition The MainBuilding of the University of Applied Sciences in Saarbrücken can be considered as a bridge in many senses of the word. It should not only connect the tower of the former Offices for Health to the Eastern Campus but also the University with its immediate environs and citizens. Furthermore it should establish a nationwide identity for the University thus the nomenclature SCC. Our goal was to establish a balanced relationship between the coziness of the sheltered campus, the public nature of the landmark and the easy connection with the neighbourhood. This SCC is not just an extension to the campus but its new address and the centre of the surrounding neighbourhood. A bridge takes the fastest route diagonally from its heart to the campus in the east and the Tower in the west and binds the disparate elements together in one distinctive gesture. The shifted volumes and transparent ground floor of the SCC make reference to the International Style of the Health office tower. The volumes of the new SCC are assembled in stacked and shifted boxes which allow for much of the light and ventilation of the lecture rooms and sports facilities to occur in the floor and ceiling. This reduces considerably the burden of noise from the motorway and gives the SCC an abstract, sculptural nature thus emphasising its role as identity builder.