UTAMED. Atlantic Mediterranean University

This public building project arose from the need to create an emblematic building in the city of Malaga. It is located in a business area, where there is an urgent need for renovation and reinvention of buildings instead of continuing to build. In this refurbishment, we start from an original office building without any characteristic elements. In this we will have to include an entire university campus.

The proposal is based on the idea of ‘stripping down’ the building, exposing its soul and eliminating all superfluous artefacts to express the very essence of knowledge. The structure, originally designed for different functions, is redefined as an open space, without internal boundaries, where nature penetrates through large courtyards and the exposed structure, forming a unique whole that extends outwards that promotes reflection and questioning, breaking down the traditional barriers between the different areas of the campus.

The interior design has been radically transformed to promote a different experience: We wrap the building with curved elements that surrounds the entrance of the building and enters it, making it stop being a building with straight shapes and have movement with partitions and curved shapes, as plastic as the mind of a teenager who begins his university stage. It represent that vital stage of university life when you have an “explosion” of ideas, which may even be incompatible, but at that vital moment they make sense (that is why each walkway railing is painted a different colour).

The project is materialised with ecological and regional elements: esparto grass and wood. With the use of these materials we give visibility to the work of many artisans who work in villages, fighting against the empty Spain and defending traditional work. On the glass façade, esparto grass is used as a shading element to reduce the greenhouse effect while allowing light to enter.

Most of the traditional floors and ceilings have been removed, creating an interior space approximately 15 metres high, symbolising the elimination of the unnecessary, clarity and freedom of creativity.

“The project enhances the building by making a total redistribution, in which the ground floor breaks its limits and connects with the outdoor terraces, and with a triple height courtyard that we created in the main hall of the university. Walkways connect the spaces that dance with the exposed metal structure which, together with the large amount of vegetation included, create a haven of rest for the students.”