“We had to avoid surrounding each unit with a wall which would give the whole set-up an appearance of five jails set in the middle of the University, particularly since this feature would be incompatible with the composition of gardens and parks which we have planned.

We have preferred to surround the compound with a ditch……..A single bridge would cross the ditch towards the entrance. Supervision is thus enforced ……………..On the other hand, the unit will not look as though it is cut off from the other garden elements and various constructions of the University.”

(Michel Ecochard, Architect of Karachi University - 1956)

The proposed building for Karachi University’s Department of Visual Studies (KU-DOVS) is situated on 2.25 acres (9,105 square meters) of open land west of the Student Teacher Club (STC) building that has served as the Department’s home since its inception in 1998.

The 153,000 sqft (14,214 sqm) building consists of academic spaces for 6 disciplines belonging to the visual arts and accommodates 900 students and 50 teachers. In addition to studios, lecture rooms and faculty offices, there are amenities such as a dedicated arts and architecture library, computer labs, work-shops, open-air amphitheater, sculpture garden, cafeteria and visiting artists’ residences. The administration offices, auditorium and art gallery will continue to be housed within the STC which will itself be restored to its original design as envisioned by its renowned French architect Michel Ecochard. A pedestrian bridge between this and the new building will serve as the link between new and existing.

The immediate physical context of KU-DOVS is Ecochard’s 1279 acre Karachi University (KU) campus at the north-western edge of Pakistan’s ever-expanding megacity. The proposed design draws on sustainable concepts – an approach that also expresses a desire to learn from and extend Ecochard’s vision for the KU Campus.

Such an approach melds landscape and architecture to create continuous human experiences and also to make climatic response. In line with Ecochard's thinking, the building avoids deploying boundary walls but creates security through sectional discontinuities - the sunken sculpture court - or Ecochard's "ditch" - at Lower Ground can be viewed from the landscaped entrance ramp/bridge but is openly accessible only to the community of the Department from deeper within the building.

Another sectional idea in the design is the “inhabited” roof which offers a series of green recreational spaces. Modernist in language, the building also relies on the idea of an “architectural promenade” to encourage human interaction through movement and visual continuity. Central street and amphitheatre concepts are married with a courtyard strategy for departmental definition – this reflects the desire to balance the need for inter-disciplinary discourse with the need of disciplinary integrity.

Above all the proposed design seeks to give the DOVS community an open, nurturing and inspiring space to inhabit in the pursuit of artistic creativity.