Nothing does a town greater honor than a well-developed public life and beautiful and functional public places, not the least of which is the market hall, the nerve center of this morning bustle.

-Alvar Aalto, December 12, 1924

In the proposed master plan the new buildings for the School of Arts, Design and Architecture are organized around a pond and a central square. These two elements create an urban center that engages the life of the school, the university and the city.

The concept of “A Clearing in the Woods” is at the core of the design. The new center is conceived as a clearing in the campus fabric; a void that at the same time opens up the urban fabric of the campus and stitches the newly inserted buildings within that same fabric.