Justin Bouttell, Pierre Fanzhu, Josh Koenekoop, Mylène Moliner-Roy
Fields of Knowledge | CCA Charrette 2014

The 19th interuniversity Charrette, Fields of Knowledge: Towards a University of the streets invites young designers to think about the relationship between the university campus and cities today.

A Global Context

Globalizing forces have an increasing agenda in all spheres of society. Although these forces generate more opportunities for social, cultural and educational exchanges, the pervading attitude of the phenomenon has been one of economic self-interest. Consequently, issues such as sustainability, cultural sensitivity, and social inequality have merely been lauded as politically correct mouthpieces, never to be fully realized.

As an educational institution which integrates its economy with socio-cultural concerns, the university has the potential to shift the paradigm from economic advancement to cultural development.

The Institutional Revolution

The new campuses are created by a consortium of universities converging to a new location where they will nurture the potential of the region by creating employment, generating wealth and improving public health. Inserted into the existing urban or sub-urban fabric, the university becomes a catalyst for cultural development.

Transient, the campus is enlivened as several universities send a department, faculty or school to settle in the new hub in order to develop a project or conduct research. The hub itself can be implemented in a variety of ways, be it reappropriating an existing building or creating new adapted structures specific to their social, cultural or climatic environments. In this sense, the form is entirely dependant on the specific context.

The longevity of the project is rooted in the way it addresses the local community through a process of generational renewal of engaged professionals that sustain the culturally specific growth and improvement around the new campus.