Abakus – Urban Laboratory for Flows of Information and Finance

The building ensemble combines a school for finance and information technology, housing for students and residents, offices and retail. The combination of finance and IT generates potential. The building supports this new area of work, research and learning with openness, space for interaction and flexibility for reinvention – an urban laboratory for flows of information and finance.

The urban form mediates between the two urban typologies of the Suurstoffi neighbourhood – orthogonal along the railroad tracks, free-formed in the park. The buildings create two sides: urban and formal along Birkenstrasse with the main entrance of the HSLU, informal on the garden side.

The open space continues in the building as a cascade of stairs all the way to the roof terrace. On each floor there is a landing area with adjacent open workspaces that allow views in different directions. The first floor serves as a “piano nobile”, which links all areas of the school and addresses the HSLU square with Mensa and Cafeteria. Open and closed workspaces flow around the orthogonal classrooms and allow a diverse learning and working environment. Strong and weak functional relationships of the school are reflected in the spatial organization. Despite their complexity a mental map of the building emerges.

The plinth, piano nobile, terrace level, institutional and residential floors create a stack of identities, which are held together by a subtly differentiated facade. The main auditorium and the multifunctional event hall can be combined into a theatre with audience and stage.

Due to the structural system with non-bearing partition walls, the rational organization, and the flexible space concept, the building can be reconfigured in many ways to meet new challenges.