Promising “a view of the Alps from every window,” Henning Larsen has unveiled new designs for a university building in Austria that will unite the diffuse Management Center Innsbruck (MCI) campus in a world-class learning environment, according to the architects.

Promoted as a standard-bearer for “openness, identity, communication, and design excellence”, the 35,000-square-meter (377,000-square-foot) building is located on the edge of the city center and was commended by the selection committee as an “ideal urban development of the new campus as a lighthouse project between the historic Hofgarten, the University of Social Sciences, and the new security center.”

MCI has been steadily growing since first being established in 1995. A byproduct of that growth has meant that the university’s facilities are now spread out across the city in a number of different areas of Innsbruck. Henning Larsen has thus leveraged its six decades of experience in higher-ed design to create a highly ambiguous building they say has no back or front, with four multi-story openings carved into the facade meant to break up the volume in an effort to adapt its scale to the existing surroundings while connecting the exterior to the alpine scenery created by the distant mountain range.

“We found a wealth of inspiration in the landscapes and geography of Tyrol, especially in the way changing light alters the way you see the mountains throughout the day,” Associate Design Director Lucas Ziegler said of the project. “The façade is an interpretation of this — the depth, verticality, and angularity of the façade gives the building an appearance that changes throughout the day and the seasons.”

Inside, the structure is split into four core areas, with the upper levels divided again into two sections and classrooms and lecture hall spaces dispersed throughout the first three levels connected by a large staircase and floorplates that work to activate much of the remaining interior as a variable center for communal activity.

All of this is added to by an influx of natural light which the firm says has a tremendous impact on its users' ability to learn and think clearly, something that will “reflect a better understanding of how people actually learn and process new information,” according to Ziegler.

“Natural light can have a massive effect on learning, and so we were especially concerned with how we could bring light deep into the building,” the architect explained. “We designed each façade to have a depth that would allow light to come in without being distractingly direct. Coupled with a classic Henning Larsen skylight in the center of the building, light comes from both the inside-out and the outside-in.”

The building will begin construction at some point in fall of 2023 with an anticipated move-in date slated for 2025.