Located on a hill overlooking the valley and the city of Tübingen, the Geo- and Environmental Centre (GUZ), is part of a southern expansion at Morgenstelle Campus (Eberhard Karls University). The expansion brings together the previously scattered departments of the Earth Sciences Faculty and the Institute for Ground Water in a manner that fosters exchange between individual departments in the building and other natural sciences faculties located nearby. Designed by KAAN Architecten, the project is the result of an international competition.
With a total height of six storeys and a 100 x 50 m footprint, the low and elongated volume of the building is partly recessed into the sloping site with the form enclosing two courtyards on different levels in response to the site’s topography. The northern façade, facing the campus square, marks the entrance to the building while the southern face of the building opens towards the city of Tübingen.
The building programme combines public teaching and areas for study with specialized research and workspaces. Labs and workshops are oriented to the east with offices located to the west and south. The laboratories and workshops are distributed across all six storeys in a gradient 'from coarse to fine', starting with the workshops for rock preparation on the lowest level and the classrooms at the top. Communal uses such as the auditorium and seminar rooms are situated to the north of the building, in close proximity to the campus square.
The double-height reception hall offers clear sightlines from the campus square and through this northern façade. A spectacular freestanding sculptural staircase links the upper and lower levels, drawing the eye upwards, where open galleries lead further into the building.
In the main hall, a precarious ‘Kunst am Bau’ by local artist Martin Bruno Schmid explores building statics by splitting supporting pillars lengthways. The resulting vertical slits through the 7.5-meter high columns challenge the load-bearing capacity of the structural concept while revealing its inner workings.
From a distance, the building appears like a block of stone with deep ridges 2-meters in height. In fact, the seemingly solid bands are hollow structures clad in prefabricated concrete components and gratings that enable access to ventilation and maintenance.
The bands provide sun shading and light control, thus eliminating the need for external sun blinds. Further to this, long uninterrupted views are also possible as the façade bands are supported by shear walls detached from the continuous mullion-free glazing. Concrete fins act as external loadbearing supports, thus allowing for interior layout flexibility.
The robust prefabricated concrete exterior is carried over to the interior, where it is contrasted with the warmth of dark walnut detailing.
