FUSION CREATIVE WORKSHOP
The conception of this project is deeply rooted in sustainability. The University of Sopron decided to rethink their use of space and the utilization of their existing buildings. The long term goal is to retract their operations from all over the town of Sopron, into the Botanical Garden Campus, where the main buildings are located historically. This is the pilot project of this long process.
The formerly abandoned Building F - originally designed by the most renown architect of the city, Oscar Winkler - served as the home of the mathematics faculty. The brief was to renovate the building and repurpose it into a hub for the Creative Industries Institute, integrating workshops, lecture rooms and offices.
Although the original building was not officially listed as a historically significant building, the renovation was carried out with the care of a listed one. The new brief demanded more floor space than the old building had to offer, so a new addition was planned. Since the site is located in a botanical garden, the new design ought to stay within the original footprint of the building. The extension could only take the place of the old single story lecture room, long ago added to the original building's side.
For the University of Sopron, whose focus is forestry and wood engineering, modern timber construction was more than an obvious choice; it was a requirement. The three story workshop extension was built with mostly CLT structure - apart from the small concrete core with the lift. The design operates with minimal surface coverings, the only surface cover is the wood acoustic ceiling. The mostly wood interior flows out to the terraces all around through the windows held up by a wooden back structure. The outside cladding is made out of Thermowood, meticulously patterned after the area's traditional Swabian roots.
