The area in front of the Teaching Center (TC) is the busiest spot on campus. The square outside the TC, which houses WU’s main auditoriums, is a popular meeting place for teachers and students, and there’s always people coming and going. The wide, inviting seating installations are in high demand. The Teaching Center and the neighboring department building D1 were planned by the Vienna-based architectural agency BUSarchitektur. The façade is made of maintenance-free Corten steel, which will slowly change color as it weathers over the years. The material was also used in the TC foyer and inside the Audimax auditorium, extending the design of the façade into the interior of the building.

Entering the Teaching Center, visitors find themselves in a spacious, lightfilled atrium. The building’s windows are arranged to allow light to come in from all sides, which provides natural daylight to all the areas for individual study, spaced around the atrium in a spiral pattern. There is a mix of quiet areas and open spaces, connected by ramps and staircases. In total, the TC building offers space for about 5,000 people.

The Teaching Center houses most of the university’s approximately 90 auditoriums and seminar rooms, all equipped with state-of-the-art teaching and learning technology. All auditoriums offer natural daylight, which creates a pleasant learning environment. The Auditorium Maximum or Audimax, WU’s largest auditorium, seats 650 students.

The Mensa cafeteria connects the Teaching Center with department building D1. A flight of stairs located next to the entrance to the cafeteria leads to an inviting roof garden and seating patio. The roof garden can also be accessed directly from the two adjacent buildings, TC and D1.

The D1 building also has an atrium with daylight streaming in through a glass roof. The offices of WU faculty and staff are grouped around this central atrium, which is crossed by an open staircase that also serves as a meeting place. The individual floors house both offices and niches with tables, chairs, and sofas. These spaces can be used for meetings or group work.