Università Bocconi - Brutal architecture in Milan

Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi was founded in 1902 and is one of Italy’s leading trade, economics and law schools with a deep foundation in Milan’s trade and social structure. A new university building, the Grafton Building, was opened at Via Guglielmo Röntgen in 2007. The name comes from the Irish architectural firm, Grafton Architects, who designed the innovative building. The following year, it was named “Building of the Year” when the inaugural World Architecture Festival was held in Barcelona.

In this newsletter we will visit this unusual building located in the heart of Milan. If you would like to see all the details, click on the pictures to view them in a larger size.

Enjoy!

A building constructed like a bridge

The new building contains offices with departments and research centers for the entire faculty, all contained in an area of only 80 m x 160 m, so the idea was to build tall. The project has two main themes: floating volumes and diffuse natural lighting. The floor is not supported on pillars but has been suspended from steel cables with a construction method similar to that used in bridge building. The effect is that of an open space without pillars and stairs, and large elements that seem to hang freely in the air.

The massive facade consists of the local marble like stone, Ceppo, which creates a sense of depth, density and mass, similar to so many other buildings in Milan. The solid edge forms a micro-climate that protects against the sun in the west while providing acoustic protection to the north. The many spaces in the building’s structure contribute to excellent natural ventilation.

 

A hard shell with great openness invites the city

The university is designed as a “marketplace” with the medieval market building, Il Broletto, in central Milan as a reference. Inside it is never far from the public space. Like a canopy, natural light is distributed down to the other floors through wide openings and large glass sections.

On the corner of Via Guglielmo Röntgen and Viale Bligny there is a small square where passing trams and buses create noticeable activity. From the square you can see directly into the large entrance hall of Aula Magna. The square and the city flow through the large areas and passages leading through the building, thus inviting visitors to the area.

Aula Magna

In addition to the BAG art gallery, Bocconi’s underground area includes several seminar rooms, a spacious foyer and a parking garage. But above all, there is the magnificent Aula Magna lecture hall. It accommodates just over 1,000 participants and extends from the bottom of the building, and then continues above ground level in a protruding section towards the small square outside. The hall gets its daylight through three large canals in the roof between the longitudinal blocks that houses the offices at the top of the building.

 

Grafton Architects

Grafton Architects was founded in Dublin in 1978 by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara. They were members of the Group ‘91 Architects who planned Ireland’s first significant urban neighborhood at Temple Bar in Dublin. The two Irish architects belong to a generation that emerged during a period that embraced modernism’s intelligence but rejected the aspects of postmodernist theories.
 

Lasse Olsson Photo photographs architecture, interiors, and lighting. My newsletter is published 6-8 times a year. It presents photographed projects and reports from furniture fairs in Stockholm and Milan.

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