22.06.21 13:00

The new Architecture Campus inaugurated

More investment in the quality of campus life, in the teaching of the future, in an efficient public administration

The Politecnico di Milano's new Architecture Campus has been inaugurated in the presence of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, Life Senator Renzo Piano, Minister of University and Research Maria Cristina Messa, President of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana and the Mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala.

The new Campus will be a quality project

was the promise made by Rector Ferruccio Resta to Renzo Piano.

And the new Campus was born thanks to the idea that Renzo Piano wanted to donate to the Politecnico, then designed by Ottavio Di Blasi - ODB&Partners: a radical reorganisation of the spaces of the via Bonardi complex and its transformation into a modern Urban Campus.

Just today we can see that the promise has been kept and the Politecnico has opened a tree-lined space of about 9000 square metres to its community, new buildings (for a total of 4200 square metres) including LABora laboratories and the network of laboratories for Architecture, multi-purpose classrooms, teaching spaces and the new Aula Magna dedicated to the well-known Alumnus, Engineer Giampiero Pesenti. A project realised thanks to the contribution of the Lombardy Regional Government, Cariplo Foundation, Alumni and citizens.

A new campus for the city as well, an urban park linking Ponzio Park with the green space system of Leonardo da Vinci Square.

The 'public space' must once again represent the beauty and quality we have inherited from our history. It cannot be a justification for inefficiency and slowness, an excuse to forego valuable measures. We need a capable and efficient public administration.

This was the challenge launched by Rector Ferruccio Resta, who added:

"In the light of the funds and opportunities brought by the Next Generation EU, the phase now beginning will be decisive. The time to duplicate, accommodate and distribute has come and gone. Verbs that we would like to replace with enhance, invest and reward".

Maria Cristina Messa, Minister for Universities and Research, said:

"The pandemic crisis has forced us to think again about the levers we need to take into account in order to drive growth: digital technology, safeguarding our planet, international cooperation, new teaching and research methods".

If we are to get up and running again, we have to do it from the university, from places like the Politecnico, where knowledge is the result of collective, intergenerational work that is nurtured and propagated thanks to the interaction between knowledge and skills, passion and method, programming and creativity.

"This new and stronger regenerative drive from universities affects the space outside them and involves the whole of society. For this reason, imagining universities, laboratories, libraries, research and cultural centres, multifunctional gathering spaces in the suburbs and in areas at risk of marginalisation, means attracting creative capital, channelling resources and accelerating change. It is a challenge that must be taken up courageously and unanimously, a challenge that must be supported by all public and private institutions if it is to be won. There is now a climate of confidence in science combined with a strong need for hard facts. I am sure that, as a system and as a country, we will be able to provide the answers we need", concluded Minister Messa.

Inaugurating the new Campus, Rector Ferruccio Resta symbolically opened a new phase for the University, anticipating some of the major issues for the coming years.

The commitment is to find a balance between face-to-face teaching and new technologies without sacrificing the experimental aspect. The University has approved a post-Covid teaching programme, which in its first pilot phase will see an investment of more than €15 million to equip classroom technology that will also allow for the involvement of distance learning students thanks to interactive platforms and speaker tracking tools, to launch co-owned projects with colleagues from international universities and with virtual reality labs using digital twin.

The Politecnico di Milano has decided to set up a Technology Foresight Centre to work on various fronts: from quantum technologies to hydrogen; from sustainable mobility to data potential; from additive manufacturing to green chemistry, biomedical nanotechnologies and space. The centre will provide public and private decision-makers with guidance to support investment choices towards innovations with a greater impact on society and the environment.

Today also saw the inauguration of LABora, the architectural modelling, digital technology and design laboratory (750 square metres) and the network of laboratories for Architecture, spaces for "learning by doing": from carpentry to metal cutting, 3D printers, digital modelling tools to virtual reality and oil painting techniques.

The University's internationalisation policies are increasingly focused on Africa.

The work of the Italian Higher Education with Africa Foundation, together with five other Italian universities, continues. It is a system-wide initiative that aims to set up physical campuses in the Horn of Africa and distance learning initiatives to award recognised degrees and university teaching qualifications to young graduates, researchers and teachers in Africa.

Over the next few years, the Politecnico will be involved in a major urban redevelopment project in the Gasometri area in the north of Milan, in the heart of the Bovisa Campus.

A true ecosystem of technological and socio-economic innovation will be created in collaboration with companies and the City of Milan and with funding from the Lombardy Regional Government.

To date, the first Joint Centre for Accelerating the Application of Innovative Technologies for Energy Transition and Carbon Neutrality has been set up with Eni, and the Joint Research Centre on Advanced Sensor Materials will soon open, thanks to a significant agreement with STMicroelectronics.

The Gasometri will host more than 120 start-ups currently being incubated at PoliHub, the Politecnico's business accelerator, and the technology transfer facility.