There are three linked buildings in this expanded urban campus - a tall new construction containing teaching spaces, a squat renovated administrative block, and an indoor swimming pool. And there are three principles guiding the design - maximising internal light, creating open meeting-places, and responding to context. To achieve this last aim, the material qualities of the steel structure are laid bare, wherever possible, and combined with aluminium, glass and ceramics to create a fragmented appearance deemed to be in keeping with the urban surroundings. The interior design is based on the university’s ‘well-established utilitarian policy’, favouring basic, inexpensive details and materials.

Source:

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, 2011.