Yale School of Architecture - Fall 2014

Professors - Tod Williams / Billie Tsien

Nominated for Feldman Prize

Two separate worlds one lifted towards and open to the sky and one embedded into and rooted to the earth are linked through light and water. 

Set above everyday life, a serene volume devoted to higher learning consists of serialized programmatic spaces arranged around courtyards fostering a communal and introspective academic setting.    Each space provides specialized ways to work and study in various fields pertaining to the Andean culture, thus creating a modern cabinet of curiosities based on the country’s history.  Open to above, the spaces get light and views from the sky sealed off from city around, only the courtyards open to the surrounding reminding the scholars what their purpose is.  

The ground level seamlessly integrates into the city fabric creating a new public garden plaza protected and shaped by the upper world.  Light and rain pour down through choreographed voids above to create moments of brightness and downpour feeding the pools and gardens that weave their way throughout the public promenade.  At once a public plaza and a gallery, a curated selection of new works and historical objects are housed in the walls and vitrines that both support the world above and bring light down illuminating the articles on display.