Museum of the California Academy of Sciences
Have you ever watched a National Geographic Documentary Series on The Great Project Tour? One of the episodes tells the story of the reconstruction of the Museum of the California Academy of Sciences after a strong earthquake.
The October 17, 1989 San Francisco earthquake struck, and the Museum of the California Academy of Sciences was severely damaged
After a multi-faceted effort, the revolutionary museum was rebuilt
In order to perfectly illustrate the Academy of Sciences' mission definition of the museum's mission to "explore, interpret and protect the natural world", designers, engineers, construction teams and scientists worked together to overcome various difficulties and finally completed this "impossible task" – a "living, breathing" museum, which is very earthquake-resistant and has become "the greenest museum in the world".
Image source: calacademy.org
This kind of building, which works together by designers, engineers, construction teams and scientists to achieve the dream of the "most reasonable scientific environment", has also emerged in many colleges and universities – such schools, which may be called the "dream university" of scientists.
Different people will give different answers to the "university of dreams". But no one, the imaginary university, can exist independently of the architectural entity of the "campus". The campus is a place for students to receive knowledge, but also a concrete presentation of the school spirit, campus landscape planning as the physical foundation of the school, how to become a powerful boost for school research and education?
These campuses gave their answers:
Harvard School of Design
Gund Hall, the main teaching building at the Harvard School of Design (GSD).
Image source: worldarchitecture.org
The Harvard School of Design (GSD) is one of the most prestigious design institutes in the world by integrating architecture, planning and landscape. Gund Hall is the main teaching building of the GSD, and it is said that the purpose of designing this open building was to allow students, lecturers, and even some office staff in the design institute to communicate with each other at will in order to burst into creativity.
Gund Hall interior structure
Photo by Peter Alfred Hess
School of Design, University of Melbourne
Image source: nadaaa.com
The Academic Building of the University of Melbourne School of Design is known as a 6-star Green Innovation Building. The outdoor vertical lines show the modernist style vividly, and the interior design satisfies the simplicity of the space, which is convenient for students and teachers to speak freely here. The exhibition hall is connected to a paneled wooden roof, which neutralizes natural light, is conducive to natural ventilation and lighting, and allows students and teachers in it to have a more comfortable and relaxed state for academic discussion and exchange.
Umeå University
On the campus of Umeå University, in the lower right is the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Source: Bergslagsbild AB
Umeå University believes that open, ungraded spaces stimulate creative interaction between students, researchers and teachers, so it has a sunny outdoor recreation area in front of the vibrant student building. The relaxation area consists of a series of fan-shaped gravel terraces, each with coffee tables and chairs and shaded trees. The campus's wide pedestrian trails are full of vitality, while the relatively small trails provide a more intimate space for teachers and students to communicate.
In China, there is also one such university, hoping to "learn from the practice of internationalization, open a new chapter in the diversification of China's higher education, and provide reference and reference for the construction of a modern university system with Chinese characteristics through its own practice and exploration." Shi Yigong, president of Westlake University, made such a speech in his speech at the inaugural meeting of Westlake University, and at the same time he also talked about the educational positioning of Westlake University - "high starting point, small and fine, research-oriented".
This positioning can't help but remind us of the California Institute of Technology, a university that "broke the circle" because of the American drama "The Big Bang Theory", which has long been known in the academic field. Caltech is recognized as one of the most typical elite universities in the United States in the fields of physics, chemistry, aerospace, planetary science, and earth sciences. The size of the school is very small (the total number of students is only about 2,000), but a good school spirit and characteristic culture are the fundamental guarantees for it to become a world-class university - including the study style of students studying hard, supporting each other, and full of academic freedom; the research atmosphere of multidisciplinary intersection, discussion and full free exchange in scientific research; the management culture of pursuing quality and excellence; and the entire campus is full of academic atmosphere of pursuing scientific truth and dedicating themselves to science.
Westlake University also hopes to become a cradle for the cultivation of top-notch innovative talents. Taking the training of doctoral students as the starting point, the school has created a precedent for the training of Chinese universities from doctoral students to undergraduates; it has hired world-class scientists to support the cultivation of top-notch innovative talents with first-class scientific research.
Westlake University hopes to become a leader in the world's cutting-edge science and technology. The school adheres to the development of limited disciplines, pays special attention to the interdisciplinary integration of disciplines, strengthens basic research, and strives to achieve major breakthroughs in original innovation and transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
In Shi Yigong's description, cutting-edge scientific exploration will play a pivotal role in Westlake University, and in the next ten years, the school will focus on the three disciplines of science, medicine and engineering, and substantively promote interdisciplinary intersection, in-depth innovation, explore the unknown and create the future for the world and mankind.
Up to now, Westlake University has signed a total of 176 academic talents, including 17 chair professors; in 2021, a total of 313 doctoral students in the fifth class were enrolled, of which one-fifth came from overseas universities. Although the scale is not large, the purpose of Westlake University is to strive for excellence.
On October 23, the newly unveiled Yungu Campus of Westlake University also fully considered the needs of scientific research and academic exchanges in campus design, hoping to jointly build a "dream university" for Chinese researchers.
Viewed from the air, the main body of Westlake University consists of a C-shaped semi-circle connecting the three colleges, surrounded by a small river that bends and curves. From the air, it is like a cell, implying the beginning of life; the three colleges are connected through "C-shaped" corridors, and facilitate the cross-integration of interdisciplinary disciplines, reflecting the school's philosophy. A lot of people say it looks beautiful and makes sense.
But is that all there is to it?
Westlake University is a very special school, with a high starting point, small but refined, and research-oriented. This positioning determines the construction of the school, first of all, to serve the "research-oriented". Or, first of all, to serve scientists.
Renderings of the Plan of Westlake University's Yungu Campus
What do scientists need?
When you look at the scenery on both sides of the river, they are measuring how wide and deep the river is;
When you lament the ingenious design of the academic ring, they are looking through the drawings and asking for a change in the location of the basement;
When you marvel at the openness of the large floor-to-ceiling glass, they insist that the windows of some houses be sealed;
In order to meet the needs of scientists, the current "academic ring" has been changed hundreds of times compared with the original design.
Why did you change it?
What kind of campus do scientists really want?
The meandering river around the "Academic Ring" is actually not small, the narrowest place is 15 meters, the widest place is 25 meters, and the average depth is about 3 meters. It makes a circle around the campus, this circle is 666 meters in diameter, the construction area is 210,000 square meters, and the "academic ring" is in the middle of the river, like a small island in the middle of the lake.
Pretty isn't it? But in the eyes of scientists, it is not only beautiful, but also a "natural vibration isolation belt". According to the design plan of the Yungu Campus, the future teaching, scientific research activities and precision instruments of Westlake University are arranged in the "academic ring". The more sophisticated the instrument, the higher the anti-vibration requirements. Vibration will affect the accuracy, and deviations may make the research fall short.
Westlake University Yungu Campus Academic Ring Capping Site
In life, there are many sources of vibration – such as subways, cars, buses, large trucks and so on. Some vibrations often flash by, such as cars; some are real "invisible killers", such as the subway.
Zhang Zhiqiang, head of the equipment asset department of Westlake University, is from Beijing and used to "deal" with vibrations generated by subway operations, especially low-frequency vibrations. He has used dozens of vibration measuring instruments to densely deploy monitoring points around schools and subways, monitoring 24 hours a day. The monitoring results show that the vibration generated during the operation of the subway has a serious impact on the normal operation of high-precision instruments. At the same time, the underground tunnels operated by the subway have a "cavity effect", which also increases the "vibration" to a certain extent.
As we all know, vibrations are conducted differently in different media. Water can effectively reduce the effects of vibration. Zhang Zhiqiang, in the process of monitoring, further verified that the island in the middle of the lake, under the same conditions, the "vibration feeling" was significantly reduced.
Seeing the "water ring" design around the "academic ring", Zhang Zhiqiang shouted directly: "Coincidental! Originally designed for the landscape, the small river was transformed into a natural barrier, effectively reducing the impact of vibration and becoming the "guardian" of major laboratories.
Westlake University Yungu Campus Academic Hall
It is not enough to isolate vibrations from a river.
It sounds like some people may think, will this be too much of a fuss?
Not at all. Zhang Zhiqiang said that after the opening of the subway in Beijing, because of the influence of vibration, the high-precision and high-sensitivity experiments of some universities and scientific research institutes had to be arranged after the subway was suspended late at night.
To this end, some subways that pass through areas where high-precision instruments are concentrated install vibration damping and vibration isolation facilities on subway tracks, but the cost is very large, and the cost per kilometer is "astronomical".
There are also some scientific research institutes and university laboratories that have been forced to "relocate their families", which have occurred at home and abroad. The relocation will affect the accuracy and sensitivity of many high-precision instruments and equipment, resulting in these instruments and equipment from "high precision" to "low-end".
"In fact, for instruments and equipment with high precision requirements, it is not enough to rely on a small river to 'protect'," said Wang Yongjiang, head of the Westlake University Research Facilities and Public Instrument Center.
For example, cryo-EM. It can take high-resolution images of samples at low temperatures, and then use algorithms to reconstruct the three-dimensional structure of macromolecules.
Basic Medical Building, Westlake University Yungu Campus
There are also micro-nano processing equipment and processes. Optimal design, processing, and assembly on a thumb-sized chip is usually performed in the micro and nanoscales, often with an accuracy of hundreds of thousands of a human hair. It is conceivable that there is a slight "wind and grass", that is, the real "lost millimeter, fallacious thousands of miles".
In order to achieve the best anti-vibration effect, Westlake University rearranged the above-ground and underground spaces, and the underground of these laboratories needed to be all physical. What is the concept of an entity? It is to dig up the original soil below and replace it with concrete pouring to make the ground stronger. For example, these laboratories are built on "huge cement columns", the foundation is stable, and the impact of vibration is weakened.
Therefore, the construction of the research infrastructure of a research university is not as simple as building a house.
Aerial photo of Cloud Valley in July
At this point in the story, it's not over yet.
Although Westlake University has not been established for a long time, it has recruited nearly 100 scientists, each of whom has an independent laboratory, and the total number will reach 300 in the future.
In addition to vibration damping and vibration isolation, these laboratories also have a variety of "various" professional requirements.
Some laboratories need to prevent electromagnetic interference, just like you are watching TV, and suddenly there is a streak on the screen, that is, electromagnetic interference. How to solve the problem? The upper and lower left and right of this laboratory must be surrounded by magnetic shielding materials to block the electromagnetic signal to maintain the stability and accuracy of the equipment. If necessary, even the windows should be sealed off for shielding.
Some laboratories need "ultra-clean rooms", that is, super clean ones. How clean is it? For example, in the 100-level clean room, the number of particles containing a diameter greater than or equal to 0.1 microns per cubic meter of air cannot be greater than 100; the laboratory should be partitioned layer by layer, and special filtration and ventilation devices should be installed, and people should not only wear dust-free clothes when they walk in, but also go through an air shower device to "blow off" the dust carried with them to ensure that the room is clean.
Life Sciences Building
Biological experiments require the use of many ultra-low temperature refrigerators such as -84 ° C refrigerators for storing specimens. Such laboratories have a great demand for electricity, one can not use ordinary lines; the other must implement temperature control. More than a dozen ultra-low temperature refrigerators put together, the heat dissipation is very strong, you have to buy a batch of high-power air conditioners to help cool this room.
There are also some science and engineering laboratories, an instrument weighs several hundred kilograms, the load requirements for the floor slab are very high, and their laboratory floor slabs need to increase the strength and bearing capacity.
Engineering Building
Science Building
Therefore, after every scientist at Westlake University arrives at the post, the school will first send him a survey, list the requirements of the laboratory, and then "tailor" according to his needs. Each room needs to design a general plan first, including water, electricity, gas, heating, process flow, etc., and then deepen the design plan, and finally form a construction drawing. The construction of a laboratory, seven or eight departments, a dozen people sit down to discuss is a common thing. "Difficult, complex, professional", almost everyone involved in design and construction has "complained" in this way.
But no matter how difficult it is, you have to do it, and you do it meticulously. With teaching and research as the center, Westlake University is not an empty phrase. As Dai Biaobing, a representative of Shanghai Construction Engineering, said, this is not to complete a contract, a lot, a building, but to create a high-quality project. How to make the school space meet the needs of scientists and stimulate their creativity is the biggest dream and challenge of designers and builders.
Now, the designers and construction team have handed over their answer sheets, and the second phase of the first phase of the Westlake University Yungu Campus has been officially opened. We also hope that this institution that will do everything in its power to achieve the "dream university" of scientists can, as President Shi Yigong described, "Ten or twenty years from now, Westlake University will be a new type of research university that attracts the world's attention, and make important contributions to world civilization and human progress in its own way!" ”
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