Project Description
This year’s Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize winner is composed of 11 buildings, connected by both covered and open-air pathways. Designed by Lima, Peru–based Barclay & Crousse, Edificio E contains office and lecture space for the Universidad de Piura. “Responding to the harshness of the sun and extreme dry heat of the savanna landscape of northern Peru, the design creates a dense inner world of unexpected softness and openness shrouded by porous concrete screens,” said jury chair Ricky Burdett in a press release. The biennial award was announced at a ceremony in October in Chicago.
This article appeared in ARCHITECT’s November 2018 issue.
FROM THE ARCHITECTS:
The facility is conceived as an extension of the arid forest of Algarrobos that characterize the northern Peruvian desert, providing shade in a hot and dry climate.
A new generic classroom and faculty offices in UDEP campus, situated in the hot desert in the North of Peru, is the opportunity to give the students the needed space for informal learning between classes, potentiating wide open circulations protected from sunshine and glare.
A constellation of 10 buildings are linked by a system of ramps and alleys, courtyards and gardens within a square perimeter of 70 x 70m. Five typical units are assembled within this square to produce a great variety of open but protected spaces for students and faculty members, with facilities like informal reading spaces, cafes, meeting rooms and reception.