Located on the north-eastern edge of downtown Bogota, Colombia, the Postgraduate Building of Jorge Tadeo Lozano University has become the hallmark of the campus, serving as the university's main gateway.
Along with fulfilling the current and future needs of the university in terms of spaces and the activities they will host, the building also enhances and responds to its surrounding urban environment.
In order to provide the necessary offices, service facilities, cafeterias, and lecture halls laid out by the project, on a reduced lot no less, the planners had to add 8 floors worth of height to the structure. For the sake of functionality, the first three floors would house the cafeteria and administrative offices. This then resulted in the monumental task of figuring out the logistics behind getting thousands of students to class on the upper 5 floors.
To tackle the issue of mobility--and in keeping with the belief that movement, communication, and learning go hand in hand--the designers created a hallway consisting of staircases and balconies, on full display to the surrounding city thanks to the large glass façade that covers the entire northside of the building.
Opposite the north glass facade, which exposes the internal movement of the building, the south facade encloses offices and lecture halls and takes on a more serene and sober aesthetic with its all-white concrete exterior.
On the first floor of the building, there is a gallery that connects to the plaza via a stoa, a covered walkway that leads to the lobby of the building.
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Architects: Bermúdez Arquitectos
- Area: 6600 m²
- Year: 1997
