Located in Seville, Loyola University Campus aims to be the first 5G Campus of the world: technology, accessibility, sustainability, integrity and responsibility are the key concepts around which this university campus revolves, placing it at the forefront of the 21st century educational and architectural scenarios.

As a first design approach, luis vidal + architects exhaustively analyzed both site and program needs. Due to the extreme Sevillian meteorological conditions, a special attention was paid to solar control. As a result, this first handicap turned out to be the opportunity to give the Campus a shape and an identity based on the local architecture and developed with the latest technologies:

Deeply inspired by the traditional Andalusian squares and courtyards, the project consists on a sequence of indoor and outdoor spaces where a careful study of volumes pursues the shadow-casting. Together with the tradition, the project takes the lessons learnt in Heathrow T2 Airport and works the textile technology, designing an external element, “the sail” that controls the light coming inside the building.

The notion of community, the need for flexibility and the commitment to sustainability are the 3 pillars on which the project stands in order to achieve the 5G aspiration:

On one side, community is promoted and enhanced by the architectural scheme, organized in two axis: the longitudinal axis (knowledge axis) where the cafe, admin, labs, and classrooms are located, and the transversal axis (human axis) that hosts the library and the chapel. The crossing generates a piazza, conceived as the heart of the project.

On the other side, the campus is designed as a tailored suit that adapts to the University needs: it can expand, modify and extend according to present and future requirements.

Finally, sustainability ties the whole scheme together: as an answer to the environmental issue, every single aspect of the project, from the idea to the external appearance, including site location, shapes and space, is designed to ensure energy efficiency. This aiming for being green has led Loyola University Campus to be the first campus in the world to obtain the LEED Platinum certification.