Adaptable campuses

State-of-the-art Campus Design 5

This is the fifth and last article in our series on state-of-the-art campus design. We wanted to share experiences and insights from our projects, which have included both university and corporate campuses, specialist roles and R&D projects on campus development. Hopefully you have found this insightful and useful.

Campuses are always places, which strive towards future and are prepared for non-anticipated changes. They are elastic. They can expand, implode and its buildings may change use. They are adaptable. The adaptable campus was the main topic in hz's partner Antti Ahlava's contribution to the European Network of Living Labs conference in Thessaloniki, Greece, 2019. Antti emphasised there how campuses are experimental laboratories for new living, work and services and their combination.

One important characteristic of adaptable environments is urban renewal, which can also be called regeneration or reinvigoration. This means developing an existing built area further by modifications and additions. Helsinkizürich's projects of adaptable campuses include for example  Strömfors Village in Loviisa (finished in 2019). This is a historic industrial campus, where in addition to premises for industrial production, there is housing and recently increasingly services for the locals as well as tourists. Travellers and summer residents come to see this beautiful heritage site, whose industrial activities stem from the 17th century. We planned the regeneration of the place with many different types of new housing and a spa hotel. The urban renewal principle here was to adapt to the existing context by continuing its principle of clearly dfferent sub-parts – the village of the future principle as we called it.

Another crucial topic of adaptable campuses is that they are urban ecosystems. Antti Ahlava has emphasised this topic in his projects with on Chinese university campuses. What is common to all ecosystems is that they have a territory  where there co-exists habitats for different species. In a similar manner, urban ecosystems enable the co-existence of different types of user groups and people. Therefore, the development of urban ecosystems differs from the traditional way of assigning one function to a specific place or space. Campuses are good examples of ecosystemic territories, where different user groups and activities mix. Local adaptation – as in the case of Strömfors – is as important in natural as urban ecosystems.  This is about how the interaction with the context is conducted. Each context has different built and natural heritage and character.   

A difference between urban planning and urban ecosystems is that while official planning produces definite, fixed plans, ecosystems are evolving, flexible, agile and changeable – they are adaptable. A flourishing campus is always developing and changing. Another crucial feature of ecosystems is that they have not been planned, but they are born from the interaction between species, and from the interaction between species and their circumstances. Some have a symbiotic relationship with each other, some prey others and some become eaten. Adaptable campuses are in dynamic change and newer complete.

Instead of spatial programming, urban ecosystems are about orchestrating multiple interlinked spaces based on user centered thinking. Unlike our economic social systems, urban ecosystems – such as campuses – are not based on monetary value, but experiential value and experiential places. An urban ecosystem consists of experiential interactions and because we are talking about urban environments, these interactions are made of places. Physical organisation principles define the quality elements of an experience. The territories and places of campuses have a big impact on how it is to live there. In this way, urban ecosystems direct culture through  physical character. Let's ask how one campus experience is different from others. Does it have recognisable character? A good urban ecosystem includes diverse and exciting milieus. This is thus not just about satisfying needs. It is  important to take into account that in a similar manner as nature's ecosystems have multiple species, also people in urban ecosystems divide into various groups  with different interests, values and tastes. An ecosystem is a community for the different species that live there – both human and more.

One way of making adaptability possible in campuses is to see them as areas where there are flexible, distributed and networked resources within. This philosophy is a drastic difference to traditional campuses and also to urban planning, where the activities and users are segregated to their sub-areas within the compound. In a distributed system of an area, for example a school's activities can be spread out to numerous different locations, mixing with other activities. The adaptability of a distributed system can be further increased by making the spaces of the campus shared. This means that they can have be different users at different times. Antti Ahlava was one of the founders of the School as a Service project in Espoo, Finland, where an upper secondary school was spread to different shared locations in the campus of Aalto University. This project was has been widely reported in different forums such as World Symposium on Sustainable Development in 2016, Saint-Etienne Design Biennale in 2017, and IEEE International Smart Cities Conference in 2019. Research shows that both students and teachers found this model of a school better than a traditional one. One of the benefits was the support that the practice brought to social learning. The project has received many international prizes and awards such as World Innovation Prize in Prague, 2017, and Human City Design Award in Soeul, Korea, 2019.

In a similar manner as urban renewal is in city scale the method to implement adaptability, in building scale that corresponds to adaptive reuse. This means adapting new uses to old buildings. An example of this is the transformation of the historic Helsinki City Hall campus in the centre of the city which – based on our ideas – became a carefully designed multi-use place for both administration, local inhabitants and tourists. Helsinkizürich's Antti  was responsible for the urbanistic development in the conversion of these three and half blocks of a city campus into restaurants, stores, working spaces for the creative class and events. The courtyards of these 18th and 19th century blocks were opened for the public and the ground floor of the city hall was turned into an exhibition space. Good campuses adapt and react to changing circumstances.

Adaptable campuses are dynamic spaces designed to evolve with changing needs and contexts. They serve as experimental hubs that integrate living, work, and services. Key principles include urban renewal and adaptive reuse, exemplified by projects like Strömfors Village and Helsinki City Hall Quarters, which blend heritage preservation with modern functionalities. Campuses as urban ecosystems promote diversity and interaction, moving away from traditional, fixed spatial planning to user centered, flexible, and shared spaces. This approach fosters experiential value, as seen in projects like the School as a Service model, which distributes educational activities across multiple shared locations, enhancing social learning and adaptability.

Campuses are vibrant spaces that integrate work, living, and learning, centred around a core purpose like education, innovation, or business. Unlike traditional urban areas, they offer diverse amenities and user groups within a structured, sustainable design. Campuses foster creativity, collaboration, and a strong sense of identity. University campuses emphasise interdisciplinary learning, sustainability, and urban integration, balancing heritage preservation with evolving needs. They adapt to digital advancements while maintaining spaces for interaction and recreation. Business campuses similarly blend industrial and residential elements with green landscapes, creating ecosystems that promote sustainability and community engagement. By integrating green spaces, collaborative planning, and innovative features, campuses can enhance quality of life, drive innovation, and contribute to sustainable urban growth.

Campus development for creative and knowledge-intensive fields has been under-explored in architecture and urban design. Integrating such campuses into urban settings fosters innovation, collaboration, and community by combining creative spaces with residential and cultural hubs. Adaptable campuses embrace change, serving as experimental spaces for living, work, and services. They prioritise sustainability, community-building, and inclusive ecosystems, differing from rigid urban planning. Helsinkizürich's projects like Strömfors Village and School as a Service showcase adaptive reuse, mixed functions, and distributed systems, enhancing flexibility. Successful campuses balance heritage, innovation, and user-centered design, fostering sustainable, diverse, and experiential urban environments.