REPEAT – repetition is a fundamental prerequisite of learning

REPEAT- the structure of the student living quarters as a multiple repetition of a module

REPEAT – sleep, play, eat, repeat – the repeated cycle of everyday life

1.       Built territory.

·         The competition proposal offers a contemporary, functional building that fits into the existing historic urban environment with a carefully tailored height, proportion and scale of the volume, while remaining modern.

·         The facade of Street E.Birznieka Upīša is designed respecting the historical wooden buildings.  The height of the new volume is reduced to 4 floors nearby the historical wooden buildings forming a transition from lower volumes to higher.

·         The studio module roofs on the roof floor form a visual reference to the nearby historical rooflines and complement the roofscape.

·         The territory plan respects public, private and service access areas.  The main student access point into the living quarters is from Street E. Birznieka Upīša through a communal area in the West side of the building. Access to all the public areas, as well as the parking lot and multiple bike parking spots are planned from a pedestrian road. The service access point is planned from the East side of the building, providing all necessary maintenance function

Building plan.

·         The base element of the student living quarters is preserved and multiplied– the stairwell, around which three living clusters are organized.

·         The new volume features 9 structurally similar building volumes that are connected with terraces and outside staircases, forming a unified building.

·         The outdoor terraces and staircases offer both semi-private outdoor area, and additional evacuation path in the case of a fire.

·         Common areas, commercial areas and service rooms are located on the first floor, the rest of the building is comprised from student rooms (in total 360 basic student rooms, 180 en suite rooms, 55 type B studio apartments and 35 type A studio apartments)

Constructive scheme

·         The new volume features 9 structurally similar building volumes that are connected with terraces and outside staircases, forming a unified building.

·         The stability of the building is achieved through the use of reinforced concrete columns and vertical communications core.

·         7th floor – pre-fabricated timber carcass panels for the studio type modules, located on the roof.

·         Pre-fabricated insulated timber carcass panels of 4 different types are used for the facade.