The new Urban Campus for the Bocconi University is located on a large site close to the city centre of Milan, adjacent to the existing university. In a radical departure from the axial relationships and rectilinear volumes typical of the adjacent campus, the project comprises several sinuous buildings with shimmery metallic skin.
Each building on the new campus is dedicated to its own program: the teaching and administration building (several interconnected cells), dormitories and a recreation centre. Only half the 35,000 square meter site is occupied by new buildings, with the remainder dedicated to green space.
Transparency is a signature of SANAA, and this project is no exception. The see-through glass skin is tempered with a perforated metal wrapping, which cuts glare and heat gain. The nearly inch-thick sheets of anodized aluminium were bent into eight different types of wavy sections, transforming a flat material into a self-supporting three-dimensional one.
The volumes that compose the teaching and administration building touch one another lightly, allowing for a flow of students and professors from one cell to the next. Further, each floor has balconies along its perimeter, screened with an undulating metal mesh that results in a porous relationship with the city.
Drawing influence from typical Milanese architecture, each volume features an interior courtyard that is designed to have its own character while relating to the larger system. Porticos lining the courtyards further a sense of connection and provide peaceful, sheltered areas.
Following the exterior concept, the architecture inside is permeable in feeling throughout and is characterized by a sequence of columns, transparent rooms, and trees.
Other key project factors include the use of Milan’s underground water for the buildings’ heating and cooling roof-mounted solar panels, reuse of rainwater to irrigate the park, and the metal mesh exterior panels which control the sun. Overall, the building has achieved a LEED Platinum status.
