Danish architecture studio Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), in collaboration with the Kansas-based design firm BNIM and the University of Kansas (KU), has unveiled the design of the Makers’ KUbe to accommodate over 1,300 students, board and faculty members of KU School of Architecture and Design in Kansas, United States. The educational institute's campus will house three interconnected buildings—the existing Marvin Hall (1908), which will be preserved, Chalmers Hall (1978), which will undergo renovations to improve natural light access, and a new mass timber architecture, the Makers’ KUbe. The connected campus hub is envisioned to foster creativity, innovation and environmental stewardship.

The Makers’ KUbe is designed as a six-storied monumental cube structure, spanning over 50,000 sqft, in a diagrid timber framework fabricated by the US-based engineering and timber construction company, StructureCraft. Influenced by Japanese joinery details, the building employs tight-fit dowels and notched glulam, eliminating the need for steel fasteners. The minimal use of material and reduced reliance on carbon-intensive concrete aligns with the campus's commitment to sustainability. “The building serves as a living curriculum, revealing all function, technology and structure as tangible elements for the students to appreciate and critique—learning solidified into built form,” says Bjarke Ingels, Founder and Creative Director at BIG.

The building’s bright open layout features spacious studios, labs for 3D printing and robotics, and a café on the ground level. A fire-resistant staircase circles around the central core to optimise space utilisation and connect adaptable floor plates which can be divided to accommodate a ‘more typical classroom experience,’ as per the press statement. BIG’s minimal design approach is carried through the exterior façade design, enclosed in glass to reveal the MEP systems and exposed wooden structure. The blend of transparent and opaque insulated glass fosters creativity while providing privacy and reduced glare. The opaque panels incorporate biodegradable hemp wool for improved thermal performance, emphasising KUbe’s commitment to sustainability.

The design team strategically oriented KUbe’s massing to maximise natural light and airflow, benefitting the adjacent Marvin Hall and Chalmers Hall. On the second floor, winter garden bridges connect the diagrid to the two existing educational buildings, facilitating ease of circulation and enhancing student-faculty interactions. While on the ground floor, corners of the cube are chamfered to create canopied entrances, the upper-level corners are recessed, allowing for accessible terraces offering mesmerising views of the campus and the city.

Reflecting the university's adherence to sustainable design solutions, the proposed campus employs timber to reduce the carbon footprint, integrates rooftop photovoltaic panels over the existing buildings to generate renewable energy, and utilises a rainwater harvesting system over KUbe's roof for site landscaping irrigation. “The programs at KU School of Architecture & Design not only showcase the next chapter of our profession, but they will also inspire the designers of tomorrow to envision a sustainable future,” shares Thomas Christoffersen, Partner at BIG.

BIG’s design unveiled for Makers’ KUbe is a result of years of collaboration and planning, the progress for which is yet to be announced. Some of the key projects from BIG’s growing portfolio published on STIR include The Mindfulness City in Bhutan, envisioned as a 1000+ sq km proposal with 11 neighbourhoods; Biosphere in Sweden as a treehouse guest room with 350 bird nests; and Vltava Philharmonic Hall in Prague, which hopes to celebrate the Czech music tradition.

Project Details

Name: Makers’ KUbe
Location: Kansas, United States
Client: University of Kansas
Collaborators: BNIM, StructureCraft, Walter P Moore, Cumming Group, JE Dunn Construction, Smith & Boucher, Forza Consultants, SK Design Group, Rosin Preservation, Kilograph
Design Team:
Partners-in-Charge: Bjarke Ingels, Thomas Christoffersen, Leon Rost
Project Manager: Yu Inamoto
Design Lead: Alana Goldweit
Project Architect: Dominyka Voelkle
Team: Daniela Morin, Dylan Hames, Ema Bakalova, Hudson Parris, Isela Liu, Margaret Tyrpa, Megan Octaviani, Nele Herrmann, Paola Bokobsa, Praveen Lalitha Kishorekumar, Tara Abedinitafreshi, Thomas Guerra, Will Chuanrui Yu, Youjin Rhee

(Text by Simran Gandhi, intern at STIR)