two buildings extend the UFV campus west of Madrid
On Madridon its western edge, where the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria occupies a green campus in Pozuelo de Alarcón, two new buildings from Bjarke Ingels Group / BIG they are ready to add very different silhouettes to spaces. The Academic Center rises as a stack of alternating horizontal floors above an open plaza, while the nearby Central Administration Building gathers four stepped volumes around a planted courtyard.
At a combined 8,500 square meters, the projects split the extension between teaching and administration, while sharing an interest in movement as architecture. BIG treats corridors and ramps as social spaces and then carries this idea outside through terraces and courtyards.
The two buildings remain formally distinct, yet both relax the conventional boundary between room and route, giving students and staff places to pause between scheduled activities.
Academic Center at Francisco de Vitoria University (UVA), Bjarke Ingels Group / BIG
rotating rods lift the academic center
Designing the Academic Center, the group in the Bjarke Ingels Group begins with four horizontal bars stacked one on top of the next, with the central pair rotated 45 degrees to create a triangular footprint. This shift opens terraces between floors and raises much of the building above the ground, leaving a shaded plaza below.
From above, the long upper volume traverses a set of triangular gardens, giving the composition a wheel-like tendency within the campus grid.
Within the stacked structure, approximately thirty classrooms sit alongside hybrid learning spaces, while communal study spaces align with open circulation. Pale concrete and full-height glazing give the exterior a light, skeletal expression, with deeper fins covering the upper floor.
Wood-panelled classrooms and perforated ceilings warm the concrete framework, and large landings transform the passage between levels into places for conversation or work.
Central Administration Building at Francisco de Vitoria University (UVA), Bjarke Ingels Group / BIG
four tall volumes form a modern monastery
A short walk across campus, the Central Administration Building takes on a more enclosed shape, dividing its program into four gabled volumes arranged like a windmill.
Their pitched roofs rise towards the interior corners and lower towards the surrounding landscape, breaking the workspace into a cluster that responds to the scale of the neighboring buildings. At its center, a planted courtyard draws daylight into the offices and provides a communal garden for university staff.
Along the edge of the courtyard, a continuous ramp traverses the building and connects each level into a single circuit. The path continues to a top floor terrace overlooking the campus and chapel, while glazed passageways keep the garden in view. The blue herringbone floor runs under exposed walls and metal ceilings, giving the interior circulation a distinct identity.
Academic Center at Francisco de Vitoria University (UVA), Bjarke Ingels Group / BIG
two geometries share a campus strategy
Although the buildings respond to different programs, their strongest moments occur when the enclosed space gives way to the campus around it.
The Academic Center opens below its classroom stack and exits through terraces. the administrative complex turns inwards around its garden and then rises towards the roof. One makes a square out of rotation, while the other builds community through a monastery design.
At the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, BIG’s paired proposal adds two recognizable figures while allowing each to maintain its own architectural language. Teaching takes on a raised, porous framework, while administration occupies a solid group of bold forms.
The link comes through the circulation itself, with the extension of the campus shaped by the spaces where people cross between classrooms and offices and then out into the landscape.
Academic Center at Francisco de Vitoria University (UVA), Bjarke Ingels Group / BIG
Academic Center at Francisco de Vitoria University (UVA), Bjarke Ingels Group / BIG
