Grand Morillon Student Housing
Concept
2017
Geneva, Switzerland
24,000 sqm
Graduate Institute in Geneva
The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva invited Kéré Architecture to participate in the design competition for the Grand Morillon Student Housing. Looking to strengthen the notion of community on the Graduate Institute campus, Kéré Architecture’s proposal is built around creating spaces for students, academic staff and the public to come together.
The project consists of two wings of four- to nine-story buildings. The layout shields the residents from street noise and disturbances while introducing a central green thoroughfare for pedestrian and bicycle access. The volumes of the buildings are playfully offset from each other, creating spaces to gather at the roof and ground levels.
Indoor and outdoor athletic facilities, a library, a café and a retail space are located next to the central green corridor, creating opportunities for residents, as well as visitors and members of the wider community, to meet and interact.
Material transparency at the ground levels link the interiors to the central green channel, expanding the visual limits of these public areas and encouraging informal encounters. Further communal areas exclusively for residents are adjacent to the main vertical circulation routes such as stairwells and elevator shafts.
In the upper levels, several typologies of living quarters support the needs of different types of students: studios for individuals, shared suites, and apartments for families. A system of wooden screens on the façade acts as a second skin, protecting the interior spaces from noise, sun and unwanted views. The screens are user-controlled at each residence, imparting a dynamic play of shadow and transparency on the façades of the complex.
The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva invited Kéré Architecture to participate in the design competition for the Grand Morillon Student Housing. Looking to strengthen the notion of community on the Graduate Institute campus, Kéré Architecture’s proposal is built around creating spaces for students, academic staff and the public to come together.
The project consists of two wings of four- to nine-story buildings. The layout shields the residents from street noise and disturbances while introducing a central green thoroughfare for pedestrian and bicycle access. The volumes of the buildings are playfully offset from each other, creating spaces to gather at the roof and ground levels.
Indoor and outdoor athletic facilities, a library, a café and a retail space are located next to the central green corridor, creating opportunities for residents, as well as visitors and members of the wider community, to meet and interact.
Material transparency at the ground levels link the interiors to the central green channel, expanding the visual limits of these public areas and encouraging informal encounters. Further communal areas exclusively for residents are adjacent to the main vertical circulation routes such as stairwells and elevator shafts.
In the upper levels, several typologies of living quarters support the needs of different types of students: studios for individuals, shared suites, and apartments for families. A system of wooden screens on the façade acts as a second skin, protecting the interior spaces from noise, sun and unwanted views. The screens are user-controlled at each residence, imparting a dynamic play of shadow and transparency on the façades of the complex.
