Reversing hierarchies

“To subtly reverse the hierarchical structure by drawing more attention to the sunken; the life of the building. Altering the space from static to more harmonius and organic”
By: Sandra Sudhesh, Andrea Salas, Dane Amilawangi, Christopher Blixt and Gemma Alcalá

This intervention was located at the university Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan of Stockholm (KTH), from the 24th to 26th of November 2019. The building shown, located in the main campus, belongs to the Architecture Faculty. It was built in 2015 by the architecture studio Tham&Videgard. Its form and material are integrated in a distinguished environment from the style of the original epoque, in 1827. Overall, an industrial ambient is perceived.

Some of our observations were that students used to take the path as a shortcut. As a result, the circulation became something linear, leaving benches and meeting points unused. In front of the building, there was a sunken acces to the Wood Lab. In scale, the uses of the different floors were organized in the following way: classrooms and spaces for First year students are located in the ground floor, while the upper ones are destined for professors.

At nighttime, the area was mainly iluminated by a post, potentially glary for the pedestrian. The facade was no more organic, but flat and dark. Such effect was even more enhanced by the contrast indoor lighting produces. The space became cold and deserted.

After such analysis, our objectives were:
– To focus attention on the sunken. By doing so, the hierarchy in uses is visually reversed.
– To exchange linear circulation into circular.
– To bring more dinamism to the area.
– To give back some protagonism to the building.