The Project
The “Cà Vignal” Science and Technology Hub in Verona represents an important reference for the future completion and expansion of the infrastructure of the entire Campus area. The project aims to increase and improve the assets available to the University with larger, more functional and innovative spaces for research, teaching and the Campus spin-offs.
The teaching laboratories presently sited in the Ca Vignal 1 and 2 buildings will be relocated to a dedicated spin-off, which will house 6 new laboratories of larger size than the current ones, with a capacity of 40-50 people for 5 of them and 20-25 people for the sixth, smaller and service one. Four teaching rooms and a 280-seat lecture theatre will also be built.
All the design choices were based on the interpretation of the requests expressed by the client, generally oriented towards the construction of a building that could be easily adapted over time to the continuous evolution of the users’ needs and that would therefore allow future changes to be made to the spaces without impacting either economically or in terms of continuity of use.
Modularity is the distinguishing feature of the structure of all the new workspaces, with wall systems or drywalls that can be easily reconfigured as required, with sustainable and efficient processing.
The trapezoidal volume generated by the Aula Magna is the main architectural element of the new building, and is deliberately emphasized by a large glass wall that repeats its shape and makes it perceptible and recognizable from outside. The result is an extremely bright double-volume foyer space. A photovoltaic and solar thermal system will be placed on the roof of the hall to meet high energy saving standards.
The public areas are designed with an “open” layout to encourage socializing and meetings, are well distributed and mainly illuminated by natural light. Particularly interesting, given the type of access to the building, is the possibility of using the two reading rooms separately from the entrance to the spin-offs: this makes it possible to assume that only the laboratories or the spin-offs are open after hours, making them independent from the rest of the structure.
The project was carried out entirely in BIM, providing the University with an advanced application tool to be used also for the maintenance and management of future interventions on the complex buildings. Politecnica’s team drew up a BIM Execution Plan, which was discussed and shared by all the stakeholders, to outline the general vision characterizing the entire design process for the implementation of the details.
