Dutch MVRDV develops AI campus in Germany

Read the story here: ArchDaily

In Heilbronn, near Stuttgart, an AI campus is being developed: “Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence.”

It is Dutch MVRDV that is behind this mini-city, which is intended to accelerate our knowledge of artificial intelligence and its use, both in relation to new forms of collaboration and new types of business activity (for around 5,000 employees.).

The campus is conceived as an open system: researchers, students, startups and companies share both spaces and everyday life. For example, the physical framework will be organised to encourage more informal meetings and greater interdisciplinarity. Openness, collaboration and sustainability are the guiding principles.

In the building mass itself, flexibility is a key word. From office buildings to laboratories, a communication centre, housing, a mobility hub and more. The buildings must be able to adapt to technologies we do not yet know.

The project shows how urban development can function as a catalyst for a new knowledge economy with new types of business activity, and not only as a container for what already exists. Will we see different forms of AI campus cities in the future? Perhaps more niche-oriented ones, where the purpose is innovation and new collaborations within, for example, sport/physical activity — or increasing the planet’s biodiversity? We could certainly use an AI campus for how to de-escalate conflicts and avoid going to war.