LUCY

Background on the Competition

The project will be launched in the summer semester of 2022. As construction work on the second phase of the university campus progresses, the university administration has expressed a need for additional student study spaces. Student enrollment has risen significantly in recent years, and at the same time, the need for modern teaching and learning spaces has changed. With the second construction phase and additional student study spaces, the Mainz University of Applied Sciences campus is set to further strengthen Mainz as a center of higher education. The university administration’s request is ultimately brought to the university’s Department of Architecture.

As part of Module 1.5, Project 1, Phase 1, the assignment “students in the box” was issued on March 23, 2022, to students in the Bachelor of Engineering in Architecture program. Under the supervision of Prof. Gero Quasten, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Julius Niederwöhrmeier, Prof. Dipl.Ing. Thomas Mrokon, and Prof. Peter Horejs, students will have the opportunity to develop designs throughout the semester.

In addition to serving as the final assignment for the M 1.5 Project 1 Phase 1 module, the assignment also features a student competition. Students enrolled in the module may submit the designs they have developed. The goal of the competition is to select one or more designs as the basis for implementation.

Concept by Justus Nixdorf

Flexibility means versatility. The building integrates easily, transparently, and openly into various locations and building types. The building’s lack of a fixed orientation allows for flexibility in location and use. The space can be zoned using heavy curtains, furniture, and/or acoustic elements, creating either focused or open spaces.

The open square with its continuous glass facade is compelling for two reasons: The flexibility of the floor plan is hard to beat. The compact core is precisely positioned within the space.

The wraparound sun and glare protection made of recycled fabrics is a successful approach to circularity and reuse concepts. Its colorful combination also conveys a decidedly cheerful and improvised appearance that is very well suited to the purpose of a “student workspace.”

The entire building can be powered by passive solar and geothermal energy in such a way that it can be used in both summer and winter without the need for ventilation or heating systems.

The prefabricated timber construction elements are arranged intelligently: their layout, which balances modular connectivity with design freedom, is compelling; the resulting staggered levels of the covered outdoor areas create a compelling spatial structure that integrates interior and exterior spaces.

The modular construction ensures short assembly times and allows for straightforward dismantling. Canopies, terraces, and the facade are assembled on-site. To counteract additional sealing of green spaces, the building is elevated on screw foundations.

Shifting the base modules creates a clear separation. To the east is a larger area for coworking and group work. The central restroom and entrance wing separates the concentrated study area, located to the west, from this zone.

Movable room divider modules provide storage space and allow for sub-zoning. They can be used to flexibly create temporary spaces.

The limited circulation areas and the building’s well-proportioned form, combined with a playful structural approach, are compelling due to their spatial precision and logical simplicity.

Concept - Johanna Hofmann

A poetically introspective learning space, which can also serve as an exhibition area for student work, is centered around a central atrium. Rainwater is channeled into the atrium’s water basin via the roof’s slope. The flower bed located there improves the microclimate, and the water basin provides pleasant evaporative cooling in the summer. The water basin has an overflow connected to a cistern, which is used for non-potable water.

The open interior features four blocks containing service rooms. The wooden table elements attached all around the post-and-beam facade can be used as workspaces and exhibition areas.

The concept is based on historical typologies of the ancient peristyle house, reinterpreted in a modern, minimalist style. Proposing an inner courtyard with a water basin is, on the one hand, spatially compelling; on the other hand, it allows for simple ventilation with adiabatic cooling. Regarding the exterior appearance, the jury discussed a slightly more nuanced façade with partially enclosed surfaces.

Structural System and Design

The roof overhang on all sides and the surrounding, cantilevered exterior of the building quickly emerge as the key structural challenges in the planned timber construction. The structural solutions for the roof and the perimeter will significantly shape the building’s form.

Various design options for the structure and support system are being evaluated, with the requirement that the corner cantilever must always be achieved without the use of concrete.

A timber truss system forms the primary structural framework. These trusses support the cantilever in one direction, while the secondary beams arranged above them enable the cantilever in the other direction.

Concept and Design

An open, transparent structure provides space for student workspaces, exhibitions, and seminars. The building’s wraparound, cantilevered exterior offers seating and establishes a direct connection between the building and its visitors. The flexible, open space can be individually adapted and subdivided depending on usage requirements.

Simple and advanced construction methods allow for dismantling and reassembly at a different location. They also ensure that materials can be easily separated and recycled in the event of demolition. The choice of materials is based on maximizing sustainability.

The floor plan is limited to essential functions. The usable space is located in the outer, well-lit portion of the interior. The 5-meter column grid allows the space to be flexibly divided into any number of areas using curtains. The core of the building is constructed of rammed earth and includes two unisex restrooms, a utility room, and an open kitchenette. The kitchenette can be screened off with a curtain as needed.

Access is provided through two entrance doors, but the building can be entered from all sides. Elements of the glass facade can be opened.

The square floor plan, the identically designed facades, and the wraparound design result in a direction-neutral design. This enhances the building’s interaction with its surroundings, supports the concept of openness, and allows visitors to approach it equally from all sides.

In addition to providing weather protection for the walkway, the roof overhang casts shade and protects the interior from overheating in the summer. In addition, sunshades can be lowered from the roof edge. These are made of a recycled, translucent fabric. They form a “second skin” and also protect the perimeter walkway. This zone serves as the transition between the surroundings and the building.

The building’s wooden structure meets the high standards for sustainable material selection. It is designed to be easily assembled and disassembled and avoids synthetic building materials as much as possible. To avoid further sealing of green spaces, the building is to be constructed on screw foundations. These can be removed without leaving any residue after demolition.

Photovoltaic modules on the roof provide independent energy production. If necessary, excess energy can be fed into the power grid. With the help of natural cross-ventilation and a chimney effect—enhanced by ventilation elements in the roof—the interior can be maintained at a comfortable temperature in the summer. Radiant floor heating, an air-source heat pump, and the thermal mass of the clay ensure heating during colder months.

Text: Niklas König

Clay as a Building Material

LUCY highlights the future viability of traditional building techniques and their sustainable benefits for architecture. Clay as a building material plays a role right from the start, as it excellently meets ecological and building biology requirements. It is locally available, resource-efficient, low-energy to produce, and fully recyclable. It is also easy to work with and free of harmful substances. It regulates indoor humidity, and its mass acts as a heat reservoir.

Rammed Earth Walls

With its natural texture, the non-load-bearing utility and restroom core made of rammed earth not only lends the interior a warm, inviting atmosphere but also serves as a thermal mass for the building. The mass protects against overheating in the summer by storing heat and releasing it only gradually. As the “heaviest” clay building material, rammed earth achieves bulk densities between 1,700 and 2,200 kg/m³ after compaction and drying.

The skylights planned for the rammed earth wall are intended to further harness the thermal mass of the core by optimizing nighttime cooling. The earth stores the cool air that flows over the wall surfaces at night and slowly releases it into the room.

Similar to monolithic concrete construction, rammed earth is worked using formwork and layer-by-layer compaction. The goal is for students to erect the walls themselves under expert guidance. The time-consuming process of tamping the clay into the formwork layer by layer would become a collaborative effort.

Another guiding principle is circularity. In the event of demolition, the clay walls can be returned to the natural raw material cycle by type if they are removed from their foundations and returned to the meadow.

Wood-frame walls with clay brick cladding / straw infill

Due to their differing structural requirements, the exterior walls are to be constructed differently depending on their specific orientation: The east and west facades will be built as wood-frame structures with clay brick cladding; the north and south walls as wood-frame structures with straw-filled partitions. In the east and west, the sun is lower in the sky, resulting in more intense solar radiation on the exterior walls. The clay brick facing has a beneficial effect here due to its high thermal mass.

Wood-Clay Ceiling, Rematter

The Swiss-based startup Rematter is industrializing a wood-clay ceiling system that was developed in collaboration with Senn, Herzog & de Meuron, and ZPF Ingenieure for the House of Research, Technology, Utopia, and Sustainability (HORTUS), with the goal of competing with reinforced concrete ceilings.

Compared to reinforced concrete structures, the wood-clay ceiling reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 percent. The ceiling elements stand out for their high degree of prefabrication. They require no drying time and can be installed immediately. The system meets all requirements for load-bearing capacity, fire resistance, and sound insulation for a partition element in residential or office construction.

The ceiling consists of glue-free solid wood beams filled with rammed earth. All joints are mortised and tenoned or screwed, which allows for easy disassembly and the reusability of all components. The timber frame structure provides the structural support. Compared to the clay, wood is the largest cost factor in the ceiling.

The three-layer panel ensures the stiffening of the ceiling slab and contributes to optimal vibration behavior.

The clay supports only its own weight (through the formation of voids). It provides thermal mass, sound insulation, REI 60 fire resistance, and contributes to a healthy indoor climate. While most timber ceiling systems lack activatable thermal mass, the clay in this timber-beam ceiling offers a decisive advantage.

For LUCY, options are being evaluated from both structural and design perspectives: either aligning the ceiling panels unidirectionally throughout the interior or, alternatively, varying the span direction of the secondary beams from column span to column span to achieve directional neutrality.

Text: Johanna Hofmann