We see the competition as a chance to create more than merely adding a new space to shop and a place for a design school. We see it as a new front door for a new university: a complete campus center, including showcases for technology, business, and design; as well as places for urban activities, natural spaces and housing.

The center should be a lively, inspirational place to work, to hang out and to live, with the backdrop of the rich nature of the area. It will be an open air exhibition of university life to current students, faculty members, visitors and prospective students.

As the campus stands now, it is a monotonous green space with buildings floating within it. For an overall campus strategy, the buildings should be clustered to form quads. In time, the green spaces between the buildings evolve to reflect a range of open space typologies.

Within this overall framework, Maxwan created numerous public space moments that can be used in different ways in different seasons by different people. The design school is designed in a way that all spaces that can allow for more flexibility, openness, and a merging of making and educating, are pushed to the ground floor, while the more privacy/efficiency oriented programs – administration, classrooms, and LUME – are given a functional layout above. This creates a dynamic place to learn, and a showcase to passersby of the work of the school.