Ritsumeikan University Biwako Kusatsu Campus Tricea

We sought the ideal form of University space to unify the building and plaza. It was also important for the area to be a pleasant place for students to spend time. We made the hallway of the lowrise section outside and merged the courtyard with the building, to create an educational building that is at once surrounded and open. This project created a building and a square (“quadrangle”) surrounded by the building, carrying on the concept of the campus master plan of preserving the relationship between square and building (center and periphery). We also provided external hallways on the second and third floors to link the lowrise and highrise blocks, and joined them with the multilevel called the Ibasho Terrace. With the aims of providing a place with circulating movement routes for students to spend time in, and enhancing the circulation of water and greenery in nature, this facility has earned S Rank, the highest rank under CASBEE. Furthermore, as an experimental building for environmental education, the building itself is used as teaching material, leading to environmental education that experiments with and demonstrates environmental technologies.