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School’s back. And so is everything else connected with it. On September 16, there was a project presentation for a new campus of the Bologna Business School, operated by the University of Bologna, the oldest university in the Western world).
The business school’s new academic hub will be built in the Bologna hills opposite Villa Guastavillani, adding to the historical richness of the site. With its focus on the areas where students socialize and interact, the project represents a rethink of university layouts.
The project will include restoring and redeveloping a number existing buildings on the site, which occupy a total area of 35,000 sq.ft. Although the build will alter the landscape, the goal is to maintain a constant dialogue with both it and nature, and will therefore avoid creating any extraneous or intrusive elements. As well as playing a fundamental bioclimatic role it terms of temperature control and comfort levels inside the building, the roof will be the distinguishing element of the design. Not only will it make it possible to control the amount of sun hitting glazed areas, it will simultaneously modulate the natural light shining into the rooms. In addition, a system, partially powered by renewable energy, will ensure the maximum flexibility in the use of the structures, including during the most extreme weather conditions.
Attending the project presentation were the dean of BBS, Max Bergami; architect Mario Cucinella; the rector of the University of Bologna, Francesco Ubertini; and the president of the BBS steering committee, Romano Prodi.
“The new campus of the Bologna Business School,” says Mario Cucinella, architect and founder of Mario Cucinella Architects, “was conceived as a place where nature, history, and architecture can interact to create learning spaces in tune with the needs of students. Young people are paying increasing attention to environmental sustainability and, therefore, the future. Our job consists of designing architecture that will create an educational dimension for students – architecture that reflects Loris Malaguzzi’s ideas about architecture as the third teacher.”
