Gridded concrete cloisters define Málaga university building by Vaillo + Irigaray Architects
Gridded volumes of exposed concrete surround a series of courtyards at the University of Málaga's Faculty of Tourism, designed by local studio Vaillo + Irigaray Architects.
Created as part of the university's expansion of its Teatinos campus to the west of Málaga's centre, the sprawling, low-lying campus provides 22,904 square metres of teaching spaces and student facilities.
Vaillo + Irigaray Architects divided the faculty into a series of courtyard-facing forms, drawing on the long history of cloisters and courtyards in both university buildings and Mediterranean architecture.
"The project proposal aims to follow the tradition, deeply rooted in our architecture, based on a system of aggregating volumes around courtyards," studio partner Yago Vaillo Usón told Dezeen.
"The courtyard typology is common throughout the tradition of educational architecture, given that the institution of the university originated in cathedrals between the 11th and 13th centuries," he added.
The Faculty of Tourism comprises three primary volumes, positioned according to the topography of the gently sloping site, which enabled a parking level to be sunk below ground.
These rectilinear volumes are divided according to function, with each organised around a courtyard designed to have a distinct "personality". One volume contains classrooms, another houses departmental offices, while the third has an auditorium, library and cafeteria.
The classroom and office volumes both overlook gravel-lined gardens with concrete planters, while to the south, the cafeteria and auditorium overlook a paved courtyard with rows of palm trees.
Surrounding these courtyards, the external concrete grid acts as a colonnade that shades the faculty's cloister-like corridors that are lined with full-height glazing.
"Each volume is organised around a courtyard, which reinforces the personality of each space, creating a green, cool, and welcoming area around which all activity revolves, thus becoming a protected outdoor social space," Usón explained.
"A public scale closer to urban infrastructure is established," Usón continued. "The structure becomes the essential architectural element of the project, capable of organising the program and defining its image."
"The building's image is formed by an exposed, in-situ concrete structure, both interior and exterior, with very slender, 15-centimetre-thick sections."
The faculty's three volumes are united by a central hall at its heart, which was conceived as an internal courtyard. It is topped by a sawtooth, skylit roof that filters daylight through a ceiling of concrete beams.
The corridors that wrap this central space connect directly to each volume's cloister, uniting them all around a flexible, open area that can be used for events and exhibitions.
Surrounding the faculty building, a series of landscaped and paved slopes has been introduced, including a botanical garden, overlooked from perimeter windows set within the deep concrete grid.
Other university buildings recently featured on Dezeen include an engineering building for Penn State University by American studio Payette, which is wrapped in reddish brick and metal fins, and an Indian teaching building by Sanjay Puri Architects that references ancient stepped wells.
The photography is by Rubén Pérez Bescós.
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