Universita Luigi Bocconi
Milan, Italy · 2008
Photo · Federico Brunetti
A precedent for integrating a large-scale institutional building into a dense historic streetscape using cantilevered travertine volumes and a transparent, inviting ground plane.
- What we like about this project
- The dramatic diagonal glazed cut at the base that exposes the subterranean level to the street.
Materials
- travertine
- glass
- concrete
- stone-paving
Visual identifiers
- cantilevered-stone
- travertine-cladding
- urban-infill
- tram-tracks
- glazed-void
Style tags
- contemporary
- rationalist
- monolithic
- brutalist-influence
Visual tags
- institutional
- cantilever
- monolithic
- urban-integration
- public-realm
- Geometry
- The building is composed of interlocking, cantilevered stone volumes that step back and project over a glazed ground-level void, creating a dramatic diagonal cut at the street corner.
- Facade system
- Travertine stone rainscreen cladding with recessed structural glazing.
- Structural guess
- Post-tensioned concrete beams and cantilevers supporting stone-clad volumes.
- Spatial scale
- Large-scale institutional block integrated into a medium-scale residential streetscape.
- Lighting
- Soft, low-angle morning or evening light casting long shadows across the paved street and highlighting the texture of the stone facade.
- Atmosphere
- A quiet, atmospheric urban morning where heavy stone architecture meets the daily rhythm of city transit.
- Environmental context
- Dense urban street corridor in Milan, flanked by mid-century apartment blocks, with overhead tram lines and a historic orange tram on the tracks.
- Spatial experience
- The massive stone volumes appear to float above a transparent ground floor, drawing the public streetscape visually into the deep interior of the university campus.
- Composition rhythm
- Alternating solid stone blocks and deep glazed recesses create a rhythmic, sculptural street wall.
- Style reading
- Contemporary brutalist-influenced rationalism
- Program
- University building
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- travertine, glass, concrete, stone-paving
- Visual identifiers
- cantilevered-stone, travertine-cladding, urban-infill, tram-tracks, glazed-void
- Style tags
- contemporary, rationalist, monolithic, brutalist-influence
- Visual tags
- institutional, cantilever, monolithic, urban-integration, public-realm
- Geometry
- The building is composed of interlocking, cantilevered stone volumes that step back and project over a glazed ground-level void, creating a dramatic diagonal cut at the street corner.
- Facade system
- Travertine stone rainscreen cladding with recessed structural glazing.
- Structural guess
- Post-tensioned concrete beams and cantilevers supporting stone-clad volumes.
- Spatial scale
- Large-scale institutional block integrated into a medium-scale residential streetscape.
- Lighting
- Soft, low-angle morning or evening light casting long shadows across the paved street and highlighting the texture of the stone facade.
- Atmosphere
- A quiet, atmospheric urban morning where heavy stone architecture meets the daily rhythm of city transit.
- Environmental context
- Dense urban street corridor in Milan, flanked by mid-century apartment blocks, with overhead tram lines and a historic orange tram on the tracks.
- Spatial experience
- The massive stone volumes appear to float above a transparent ground floor, drawing the public streetscape visually into the deep interior of the university campus.
- Composition rhythm
- Alternating solid stone blocks and deep glazed recesses create a rhythmic, sculptural street wall.
- Style reading
- Contemporary brutalist-influenced rationalism
- Program
- University building
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture