University Island
A Venetian Clock
Aerial Axo
abstract:
There are never a final stage for a clock, nor for Venice. So why should architecture have one?
The city of Venice is dynamic with its periodical tide and flood schedule. And the island with ruins are very beautiful in relationship to that special Venetian schedule. By setting the new campus as a clock next to it, the campus will never be in finished condition. It turns some of the land into water, and some of the water into land in a dynamic and fragmental pattern, so the physical space of the university could be as fragmental as the preserved ruins next to it.
The programs of the campus sits on five ships, each cruising on its own direction and speed. Over the time some programs may overlap and then separate. The frequency of those special overlaps becomes the physical calendar for the school. The campus plaza is constantly engaging with the changes of the programs shifting in the university. Facility can be brought closer or more apart, not only changing the spatial relationship among those programs, but also changing the island perimeter profile by engaging with the water, sometimes inviting them deeply inside, sometimes push them off completely, but for most time the complex water front become part of the circulation within university island and even to the main island of Venice.
Parnter: Kun Zhang
