The competition for the Rolex Learning Center was won in 2004 by the Japanese firm SANAA. The building was completed in 2010. The project’s promise was to offer a cafeteria, library conference room and study rooms for students in a single space. All these functions can be found at in a free-form layout with a high degree of porosity between them, allowing an “almost” free flow throughout the space. Today, certain parts of the floor plan are cut off by walls or furniture. Acoustic and visual issues are resolved thanks to the light wells and to the topography of the slab. Thanks to these variations in height, the entrances can be placed in the centre of the building and allow equitable access to all functions.
The organic shape of the building creates a second ‘interior’ public space, but one that is located on the outside. This second space is comparable to Lina Bo Bardi’s MASP project in Sao Paolo, because unlike the interior of SANAA’s building, the exterior is sparsely designed and remains raw. This space is used in a number of different ways, in particular for festivals.