Construction project database Emporis today released its list of the world's top university buildings. They range from the globe's tallest higher education building, Lomonosov Moscow State University's 240-meter-tall, 36-story Main Building, to the tent-like Campus Luigi Einaudi building in Turin, Italy.
It's an entertaining exercise to debate the design merits of the world's most decorated buildings. But are these 13 structures really the best university projects?
Don't get us wrong: every one of these buildings is "spectacular" in its own way. But think about the dozens of higher ed buildings in the U.S. alone that are on par with these projects.
The lone U.S. representative is Cornell's Bradfield Hall. What about Mies' Crown Hall at IIT in Chicago? Or Frank Lloyd Wright's work at Florida Southern College? Even Gehry's Stata Center at MIT?
Thank you Emporis for kicking off this debate. We know a definitive list does not exist.
BD+C readers: We want your feedback on this list! Which projects are missing from the Emporis report? Offer your feedback in the comments section at the bottom of this post (or email the BD+C editors directly at dbarista@sgcmail.com).
Here is the full Emporis' report:
Grade A Architecture: The World's Most Spectacular University Buildings
Lecture halls at dizzying heights, libraries with glass-domed roofs or crooked seminar rooms with slanting walls – it is not just in the field of learning that universities have plenty to offer, but on an architectural level, too.
From the historic Universiteitsbibliotheek KU Leuven of 1928 to the enormous glass sphere of the Philologische Bibliothek in Berlin to the brand-new, tent-like Campus Luigi Einaudi in Turin: Emporis (www.emporis.com), the international provider of building data, has compiled a selection of the most spectacular university buildings from around the world.
Biblioteca Central, Mexico City. Copyright: Luis Ibáñez
All students set their sights high, but for the 30,000 enrolled at Lomonosov Moscow State University, this is meant literally as well as figuratively, since their main building, dating from 1953, is the world's tallest university building at 240 meters in height. Over its 36 stories it contains everything one could expect from an educational institution, including a 1,500-seat auditorium, seminar rooms, a library, and even a museum.
A further example of concentration of knowledge is the Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower in Tokyo: Completed in 2008, the 204-meter-tall, cocoon-shaped skyscraper is home to no fewer than three different colleges, their teaching rooms offering breathtaking views of the city.
By contrast, the architects of the Swanston Academic Building and the Sharp Centre for Design use colorful elements to set accents. The first catches the eye with its wavy and jagged facade that mirrors the colors of the surrounding buildings. Inside, loud red, green and yellow are the dominant hues.
Swanston Academic Building, Melbourne, Australia. Copyright: RMIT / Flickr
The shape and coloring of the Sharp Centre for Design also represent a distinct contrast to its surroundings: The Centre's black-and-white structure, which is reminiscent of a chessboard, stands on bright stilts and appears to hover above the neighboring buildings.
Perhaps less colorful, but at least as spectacular, is the effect created by Bradfield Hall at Cornell University. The dark-red brick building with its rectangular and round pillars is almost entirely windowless, all of which combines to give it the weighty, massive appearance of a medieval fort.
The Graduate Centre of London Metropolitan University and the Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre in Hong Kong also opt for monochrome facades, in gray and white respectively. Nevertheless, both buildings jump straight out of the landscape: The slanting walls with their narrow window slits seem to positively sink into one another.
Wherever one looks, universities are increasingly setting store by having architectural highlights on campus. Some of the chunky relics of the 60s and 70s, on the other hand, are being torn down. This was recently the case in Frankfurt am Main, where February 2, 2014., saw the demolition of the AfE-Turm. In the largest inner-city controlled blasting Europe has ever seen, the high-rise at the Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität, dating from 1972, was destroyed in a matter of seconds.
Bradfield Hall, Ithaca, N.Y. Copyright: John W. Cahill
Campus Luigi Einaudi, Turin, Italy. Copyright: Carmelo D'Agostino / Flickr
Faculty of History, Cambridge, England. Copyright: John Levett / Flickr
Graduate Centre, London. Copyright: J Haeske / Flickr
Universiteitsbibliotheek KU Leuven, Belgium. Copyright: Michiel van Dijk
Emporis is a leading database of information about building and construction projects, based in Germany. For over a decade Emporis has helped companies, organizations and individuals stay informed about the building industry. The Emporis Skyscraper Award is the world’s most renowned prize for high-rise architecture.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
NAVFAC releases guidelines for sustainable reconstruction of Navy facilities
The guidelines provide specific guidance for installation commanders, assessment teams, estimators, programmers and building designers for identifying the sustainable opportunities, synergies, strategies, features and benefits for improving installations following a disaster instead of simply repairing or replacing them as they were prior to the disaster.
| Aug 11, 2010
City of Anaheim selects HOK Los Angeles and Parsons Brinckerhoff to design the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center
The Los Angeles office of HOK, a global architecture design firm, and Parsons Brinckerhoff, a global infrastructure strategic consulting, engineering and program/construction management organization, announced its combined team was selected by the Anaheim City Council and Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) to design phase one of the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center.
| Aug 11, 2010
GBCI launches credentialing maintenance program for current LEED APs
The Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) launched a credentialing maintenance program (CMP) for LEED APs and Green Associates, ensuring that LEED professional credentials will remain relevant and meaningful in a rapidly evolving marketplace.
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction employment shrinks in 319 of the nation's 336 largest metro areas in July, continuing months-long slide
Construction workers in communities across the country continued to suffer extreme job losses this July according to a new analysis of metropolitan area employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. That analysis found construction employment declined in 319 of the nation’s largest communities while only 11 areas saw increases and six saw no change in construction employment between July 2008 and July 2009.
| Aug 11, 2010
Green consultant guarantees LEED certification or your money back
With cities mandating LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for public, and even private, buildings in growing numbers, an Atlanta-based sustainability consulting firm is hoping to ease anxieties over meeting those goals with the industry’s first Green Guaranteed.
| Aug 11, 2010
Architecture Billings Index bounces back after substantial dip
Exhibiting a welcome rebound following a 5-point dip the month prior, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) was up almost 6 points in July. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the July ABI rating was 43.1, up noticeably from 37.7 the previous month.
| Aug 11, 2010
Rafael Vinoly-designed East Wing opens at Cleveland Museum of Art
Rafael Vinoly Architects has designed the new East Wing at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA), Ohio, which opened to the public on June 27, 2009. Its completion marks the opening of the first of three planned wings.