Authors

Ivanova Darya S.
Idealistic concepts of European university architecture in the 1960s and 2000s in the context of architectural competitions

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №1 (93) March, 2026

The architecture of higher education and science institutions has traditionally embodied social idealizations about the order of the world and its future. This article examines two key periods in the shaping of European university campus architecture: the 1960s and the 2000s. The post-war era is associated with the blossoming of modernist university architecture designed as an autonomous and rationally organized environment, while the beginning of the 21st century is characterized by a re-imagining of university spaces in the context of digitalization and transformation of educational practices. The analysis is based on four architectural competitions: the Free University of Berlin (1963), the University of Calabria (1967), the Rolex Training Centre Lausanne (2004), and the Central Engineering School of Paris-Saclay Campus (2012). They are used as examples to identify key trends in the development of university architecture and its interaction with the urban environment.

Ivanova Darya S.
Trends in the spatial organization of lecture halls in higher education buildings in the context of sociocultural changes

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №4 (92) December, 2025

In an era of rapid development of digital technologies, increasing complexity of research and changing labor market, the higher education system is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Universities are becoming places for communication, exchange of ideas, and interdisciplinary cooperation. This article examines the impact of these transformations on the spatial organization of lecture halls — key elements of higher education architecture. These halls have always vividly reflected the learners’ ideal, the relationship between student and professor, and the university and the surrounding world. Today, we are on the threshold of a radical revision of the traditional hierarchical system of education. University architecture is becoming an integral part of the educational process. The study retraces the historical genesis of modern lecture halls starting from anatomical theatres of the early modern period and reveals the main contemporary trends in their spatial organization.