The Innovation Cluster

The architecture of innovation institutions (business incubators, science parks, research centers) is paradoxically unified and trivial. The Innovation Cluster Architecture is an attempt to find a form for innovation and create an innovation stimulating environment – going beyond the standard architecture of office buildings and industrial parks.

New innovative ideas are born at the junction of disciplines. The Innovation Cluster is therefore a space to stimulate meetings of people of different professions, a platform for exchanging thoughts and experiences. Integration is conducive to both: the democratic and open public space of the campus – the Integration Zone, the architecture of its individual buildings built around the central integration space – the Core.

Integration Zone. The space between former warehouses is transformed into a public, multi-purpose urban square, open to neighboring areas and surrounding buildings. Urban structure of the campus is porous. It encourages entry from the street, housing estate or neighboring university. The spaces between ar concentrated around  the central multi-purpose square, the Forum. The main entrance to the area is pierced through existing building. The lost cubature is recovered in the form of one-storey pavilions complementing the buildings and balancing urban campus composition.

The Core, is passing through Building A diagonally from west to east and from top to bottom, is the space that connects all the Cluster zones. It allows the free flow of people between the zones, stimulating casual meetings and exchange of ideas. It contains all the elements of the program that are in the background of typical office work, but on the other hand they play a significant role in it:

• Temporary, incidental workplaces (“touchdown”),
• Co-working,
• Informal workplaces,
• Places of regeneration and relaxation,
• Places to eat and drink, vending machines.

The core is a violation of the typical office building hierarchy with “the most prestigious” tenancies on upper floors and “the worst spaces” at the bottom. It can be considered as a inversion of a common office triple-bay building with illuminated work spaces on the perimeter and dark auxiliary rooms in the interior of the building.

Matrix: The free plan and modularity of the reinforced concrete structure of the Cluster halls gives the possibility of creating a modular, multifunctional space with great arrangement possibilities. It corresponds to the present needs and type of the work. The matrix of exemplary office interior arrangements is based on the module of the existing construction grid (6×6 m). It allows a flexible arrangement of a diverse and stimulating working environments. The matrix is ​​a catalog of solutions that capture the entire spectrum of contemporary office work: from formal to informal and from individual to collective.