VETERINARY SCHOOL

Thinking about the design of an “iconic building” such as the Agora means entering into dialogue with its history and its present qualities in order to place them at the service of new challenges. It means questioning the cohabitation between ancient architectural elements with a high heritage value on the one hand, and a constantly changing use, which requires a quick adaptation of the areas to the new teaching methods.

The subject is complex: it is a question of both putting the education services provided at the cutting edge of today’s challenges in terms of modern equipment, while already anticipating the changes in tomorrow’s educational issues, and without losing sight of the heritage of the long line of traditions linked to the practice of animal health. Today, more than ever before, the question of animal health and welfare is at the centre of a profound ethical introspection, ranging from the evolution of the care systems themselves, to the evolution of a more general cultural behaviour that permanently reexamines our complex relationship with animals.

These topics are at the forefront of current ethical and societal issues. In this regard, our responsibility as designers must address a threefold problem: spatial, temporal and ethical. The idea being to find the right architectural synthesis, in a project that brings all these issues together in one answer: the AGORA.