What is a Campus?

          A campus can be defined ranging from a complex for buildings of higher learning to a large, usually suburban, landscaped business or industrial site.  If you combine these two ideas of what a campus can be and combine them with the field of architecture you can begin to find what begins to happen at areas like the Biennale and the Vitra Campus.  If a Campus is being created to educate one on architecture, it only makes sense that the buildings of the campus are thoughtfully designed and teach their own lessons about form and design.  The Vitra Campus and the Biennale Pavillions clearly show how a combination of actual architecture and education can be combined to effectively maximize what can be learned from them.

            The Vitra Campus in Germany was built in the 1940s on an old factory site.  Starting in 1981, buildings began to be built by famous architects including,  Nicholas Grimshaw, Frank Ghery, Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando, Alvaro Siza, and Herzog and De Meuron.  By placing all of these thoughtfully designed buildings in one place, the site naturally began to attract lovers of architecture from all over the world.  Because of this, it also became a place to learn about architecture in one of the best ways possible: by observing and experiencing the designs of those who are very practiced in architecture.  One of the most recent additions is the Herzog and De Meuron Vitrahaus which houses the Vitra furniture design company.  This building appears as many extruded planes that intersect with one another.  At first glance, it may even seem random how these volumes are intersected with one another.  Having visited and explored this building, I can tell you that there is nothing random about the way this building was arranged.  As you walk through the various floors and spaces, you are guided by an ingenious circulation pattern.  The opening as the end of each of one of these long volumes has a very intentful positioning to either reveal the inside to outside, the outside to the inside, or both.  Walking through this building was quite incredible to watch house they combined each of the spaces into one awesome spaces that flows from threshold to threshold.   Walking through this building was, in my opinion, much more educational than reading about it in a book.  As an educational piece of a campus, this building is effective in teaching about how a thoughtful design process can lead ultimately to an effective building.

            The Pavilions at the Architecture Biennale in Venice were just as effective in educating me on architecture as the Vitrahaus was.  As mentioned, I think that the best way to learn about architecture I to personally experience architecture that was been effectively designed.  This was clearly evident to me in the Pavilions at the Biennale in Venice.  Unfortunately because of closures, was not able to explore any of the other buildings at the Vitra Campus.  At the Biennale I was able to explore 10 of the different  architectural pavilions.  As I mentioned in my earlier post about the Biennale, this exploration of not only the exhibits, but the buildings was extremely educational.  It was like I was walking through a small city of interestingly designed buildings and spaces.  I was able to take notes and sketch things that I noticed and could then incorporate into my work.  The Norwegian Pavilion (above) was one of the most interesting pavilions that I found at the Biennale in the way it connected with the environment and treated light. ­­­

            Here I think the word campus becomes redefined.  In both of these examples, I was not being taught by a teacher in a classroom or a book.  I was being taught through observation, experience, and discovery.  In my opinion, this method is much more viable in the world of architecture than any other method of teaching.  Architectural education should, in my opinion, focus on this method of discovery in its teaching.