Lukas Icking
Die nützliche Hochschule. FH Aachen (Germany)
The universities must return to the city centers
As a less significant member of Aachen's higher education landscape, the faculties of the University of Applied Sciences are located far outside the city centers. The faculties of Architecture and Civil Engineering are based beyond Aachen Burtscheid.
The isolated location of the buildings on Bayernallee, along with the poor availability of workplaces for students, the workshop that has not been usable for years, and the early closing times, have a detrimental impact on the teaching and demotivate many students in their studies.
Integration into an urban, diverse, and lively environment, along with new space offerings, are important factors for the future of the Faculty of Architecture at the Aachen University of Applied Sciences.
In the building of the former cloth factory on Jägerstraße, in the middle of Burtscheid, with the RWTH Aachen's usage coming to an end in the medium term, many utilizations seem conceivable at first glance. There is a promising, historically significant building substance in a prestigious, topographically interesting location opposite the Burtscheid spa park.
The new architecture school will develop programmatically according to the local conditions. The building of the former cloth factory forms the framework with its simple skeleton construction. The main issue to be addressed is the situation of the poorly lit middle areas of the floor levels, caused by the building's external dimensions.
The small-scale subdivision of the floor plans by partitions added in the 1960s must be reversed to create flexible, multifunctional spaces and to reveal the building's history. The universities must return to the city centers to gain added value from it and to offer added value in return. At the currently insurmountable interface between the cloth factory and the spa park, a place should be created that establishes connection, presence and public usage.
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