The Student House

With its seven floors and characteristic silhouette, the 15 000 square meter Student House has successfully managed to balance high environmental goals with function and an attractive interpretation. It was inaugurated in August 2019 and has become a landmark for Linköping University. The Student House has given students and staff a new identity-creating building, an attractive meeting-place and a creative environment for education and research. The contemporary architecture interacts with the cultural environment, but also the university’s original 1970s buildings. New and old are linked together, in order to strengthen and develop the wholeness of the campus. As Linköping University has a strong sustainability profile, it was important that the Student House should not only be sustainable, but also look sustainable. The building is certified to the Sweden Green Building Council’s Gold level, proving that the building really is at the leading edge in terms of sustainability. A Building for Everyone The Student House has high social ambitions and forms a meeting-place where students, researchers and staff can gather to study, work and develop together. The building is strategically located at the centre of Corson, the social thoroughfare that runs through the entire campus. The entrance hall is designed as an extension of Corson. It spans over two floors and is connected by wide, multifunctional steps. The steps are shaped like a grandstand and can be used for a range of different activities The Library The new library is the true heart of the Student House. It also constitutes the larger, unifying space that Campus Valla had so far lacked. Here, the entrance hall’s public and accessible areas meet a more contemplative environment with different types of study places. Designed as a ‘suspended wooden box’ inside the red cube, the interpretation balances nicely between everyday study environment and a representative symbol of the whole university. The space is built around staircases, with systems of joists protruding into the central, over-lit atrium. This enables easy orientation and perspective, while also optimising the use of natural daylight. High Sustainability Ambitions Linköping University has a high environmental ranking among universities: it is in the top ten globally and number one in Sweden. Part of the brief was to make this fact visible both externally and internally, and it should also be reflected in the building’s energy profile. By using computational design and integrating many different disciplines at an early stage, the Student House managed to successfully balance high environmental goals with function and an attractive interpretation. Already in the planning stage, the client’s ambition was for the building to achieve certification from the Sweden Green Building Council. The fact this was achieved is a firm proof that the Student House fulfils the high sustainability goals in everything from energy use to creating healthy, attractive environments. The sustainability ambitions have been materialised in a conscious interpretation of daylight, including the use of wood, 60% reused furnishings, and a 1,200 square metre solar panel installation, that meets 75 % of the building’s electricity requirements.