Germoplasm Pavillion

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

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Germoplasm Pavillion

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Firm

Vlad Sebastian Rusu

Type

Educational › University

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2010

SIZE

1000 sqft - 3000 sqft

BUDGET

$1M - 5M

Photos

Dacian Groza (16)

The Pavilion is located in the Botanical Garden of University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj (UASVM).
The challenge of this project originated from various reasons:
First of all, the particular natural surroundings of the Botanical Garden of UASVM, with views on the university premises and on the city and the site located on a small plateau bordered by the embankment of the division of rock plants and the lines of fruit trees of the stage-arranged orchard. Secondly, the existence of a stonewall in ruins, delineating a rectangular yard which is still preserving beautiful details of stone and brick. Finally, the topic of the project required by the university’s management whose intention was to erect here an educational multi-functional building comprising conference rooms, the laboratories of Germoplasm department as well as accommodation premises for guests.
The outcome was a pavilion building comprising the existing stonewall and following the slope of the land by means of stage configuration of all inside and outside premises, developing mineral and vegetal terraces. Therefore the building becomes a link between the natural and the built-up elements of the site revealing the stonewall and developing premises with strong identities for various facilities provided here. In this respect, the public premises located on the ground floor open to the neighbourhood through large windows, to a yard delineated by the existing embankment, protocol and accommodation rooms on the floor enjoy the intimacy of sodded terrace connected to the botanical garden while laboratories and research premises are hidden under the sodded embankment reiterating the stage-arrangement of the nearby orchard. The access for bringing the seeds collected on the field is made at the first floor through two vomitoria. The materials employed outdoors propose the reading of the existing premises by means of white plastering in case of public facilities and of folded table in case of accommodation premises aiming at the same time to reveal the expressiveness of stonework ad brickwork. Sodded terraces and embankments reiterate the types of arrangements existing at the level of the botanical garden and orchard with views on the city and the surroundings through their development of various levels. Indoor premises housing the conference rooms and the lobbies are flexible and allow various events for the full opening of the space between them. The stonewall participates both indoors and outdoors delimitating in terms of space the access area to accommodation facilities from the access area for the public through large windows from the botanical garden as there’s a permanent dialogue between its materiality and that of debris on the embankment, as a support of rock vegetations.