The competition aims to introduce a new academic building that reinforces the university’s identity while engaging in a dialogue with the city’s cultural context.
The compact volume maximizes the availability of open space within the site.
The internal organization is simple and efficient, featuring a divisible 400-seat lecture hall, a through foyer, service areas, and technical facilities.
The large, transparent central atrium forms the heart of the project. It incorporates the main entrance and opens onto the surrounding garden, creating visual permeability that connects the university’s interior spaces with the adjacent urban landscape.
The monolithic, single-material building is shaped through volumetric subtractions that define the foyer spaces. These compositional choices balance the structure's solidity with the lightness of the glazed recesses, guiding visitors toward the building's core. Fully clad in ceramic, the volume evokes Ferrara's architectural tradition and the quality of post-war Italian architecture.
An iconic building that becomes a symbol of the university campus, expressing a contemporary architectural language while maintaining a clear and meaningful connection to history.
The adjacent outdoor areas feature seating, gathering spaces, and bicycle parking, while newly planted trees help mitigate the building’s environmental and visual impact.
In the evening, the atrium is illuminated, transforming into an “urban lantern.” This transparency, set against the material solidity of the building envelope, makes the building immediately recognizable within the surrounding neighborhood.
