In Auckland, architects faced a daunting task: they had to fit their construction into the campus ensemble of buildings in the spirit of neoclassicism and typical of the southwest of the United States of the Spanish colonial style.
They didn't try to compromise on context; instead, Bolin Sivinski Jackson focused on combining functionality and student convenience with maximum resource efficiency of the building. The result is a high-tech building, discreet, following the human scale.
The business school is located at the entrance to the campus: its 2-story L-shaped volume faces a small meadow - an echo of the grassy square courtyards of Oxford colleges. The transitional space between the external environment and the interior is created by a light metal "gallery" enveloping the structure. In the longer part of the building there are two auditoriums and seminar rooms on the first level, the teachers' offices on the second. The second half of the building is occupied by the assembly hall, the façade of which is faced with zinc panels and natural stone.
The two parts of the building are connected inside by a glazed lobby, the central part of which is occupied by a wide staircase, which also serves as a place for rest and communication of students. But the main attention is drawn to the console take-out located on the second level of this room - the red block of one of the auditoriums, a kind of "showcase" of the business school.
The building is environmentally friendly: it can qualify for a gold or silver LEED certification: a wide roof overhang protects its glass walls from overheating, at the same time, enough light enters through them to reduce the use of electric lighting; the green roof is planted with drought-resistant plants. In addition, a rainwater harvesting system has been set up, part of which will feed the lily pond. Environmentally friendly materials such as Douglas fir wood are widely used. All windows in the building can be easily opened, which made it possible to partially abandon artificial ventilation.
