THE NETWORK
Throughout the development of the Campus WU Master Plan, a concept evolved concerning how to structure public open spaces and adjacent areas by means of specific scale adaptations within the urban context in order to bring these spaces to life.
This concept consists in grouping different features together in themes. These recurring themes are designed to provide identity-establishing reference points on the Campus. They were placed at regular intervals, always in sight of the path network, and always linked to the spaces between the Campus buildings. Their targeted placement means these features play an essential role in Campus WU’s visual orientation system enabling users to find their way around intuitively.
The general idea of using these features to define meeting and gathering points and spaces on the Campus is to encourage communities of campus users to develop. As such these features are denoted “Families”.

THE FAMILIES
Throughout approximately 90,000 m2, the Families present different variations that include 21 short and 49 long benches, 9 drinking fountains, 26 plant troughs, 53 rubbish bins, 16 U-shaped support stands, as well as 188 light towers.
The positioning of these diverse elements comprising the Family unit is based on a pattern.
Different variations of these patterns allow each “Family” to have different characteristics which correlate to their location. The variations make use of both horizontal and vertical alignments. It is therefore possible to define the space with varying scales and expansions without deviating from the main concept.
The individual “Family” elements are interrelated in terms of shape and function. By having these features built in steel, not only do they represent a balanced ensemble, they also constitute a coherent unit.