Space for interdisciplinary collaboration: One mode of achieving social sustainability at universities

Abstract

Future development of universities should consider all three aspects of sustainable development: environment, society and economy. The aspect of society or social sustainability at universities can be achieved primarily by planning spaces which encourage interaction. Interdisciplinary research which connects experts from various disciplines who are solving numerous global issues of today represents a specific mode of interaction. Interdisciplinarity has recently been actualized to the extent that reputable universities are forming new educational programs, which combine curricula of several faculties. This paper presents the analysis of several architectural works that were designed and erected for the purposes of interdisciplinary research or other interdisciplinary activities. Although at the first glance they seem to be different, detailed analysis of their spatial distinctiveness reveals several architectural features notable for productive interdisciplinary collaboration. The imperative for conceiving and designing buildings for interdisciplinary research has been identified as creation of spaces for multiple levels of collaboration by disposition of the required spaces, i.e. that the character of the established model is primarily functional-social. We believe this paper can be of interest to all of those dealing with social sustainability at universities.