Multipurpose Centre, Bologna

Computer rendered view of the proposed Multipurpose Centre.

Project Details

• Project Name: Multipurpose Centre
• Client: Fondazione Carisbo
• Project Type: Architectural redevelopment
• Location of site: Riola di Vergato, Bologna, Italy
• Principal Designer: Massimo Iosa Ghini
• Design Team: Marco Colonnelli, Valentina Misgur
• Date of commencement of project: 2005
• Area: 3000 square metres

The building is composed of three distinct parts that connect to each other in a linear fashion.

The Building

The design brief required the redefinition of an existing complex through a new architectural interpretation and the incorporation of a new executive centre into the existing complex.

View of the conference centre.

Technology serves as the starting point for the design concept only to further sustain it. The centre adopts an unusual architectural language that sets it apart from the adjacent structures. At the same time however, it creates an intense new context, giving a contemporary spin to the motifs, badlands and morphology of the surroundings. The building is designed as a singular body with different articulations that merge into each other and further evolve.

View from the terrace of the conference centre onto the residential units in the complex.

The construction is composed of three separate but adjacent building structures: a two-storey prefabricated building providing for seven residential units; a two-storeyed building that houses a conference centre with a portico on the southwest side and a terrace on the first floor; and finally a building connecting the two bodies which houses the utility areas.

Credits

• Text: Courtesy of the architect
• Computer rendered images: Courtesy of the architect
• Compiled and edited by Manish Mehta