Röntgen 1

Bocconi inaugurated the campus building on Via Roentgen on 31 October 2008. 

The building houses the offices of the entire Bocconi University Faculty and the new and splendid Aula Magna, with a large foyer and an exhibition hall. It also has conference rooms and an underground parking lot. 

In late 2001, while the Centennial of Bocconi University was being celebrated, an international competition was launched to erect a new building on Viale Bligny / Via Roentgen to house the activities of the scientific institutes and research centers. This major decision was the final achievement of the Bocconi 2000 Strategic Plan, initially approved in 1985 on the initiative of Rector Luigi Guatri. It wagered there would be a significant expansion of the educational programs, with a consequent rise in the number of students and the university facilities conceived for them.  

The first phase of the project also saw the construction of the “Velodromo” designed by Ignazio and Jacopo Gardella in the center of the urban campus, while a second building designed by the architects which would have stood between Viale Bligny and Via Roentgen was never built. To promote a convincing solution for this area of the Bocconi campus, which is connected to the city center more than other areas, a competition by direct invitation was called, involving Italian and international architects. 

The competition was won by Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell of the Grafton Architects studio in Dublin. 

One of the elements that persuaded Bocconi administrators to choose the project is the vast underground Aula Magna, which is visible from the street and immediately reveals an open space, a symbolic access route to the university. McNamara and Farrell’s project aimed to recreate a new piece of the city in the area, by erecting an imposing structure that would yet be permeable to the flow of daily life. They studied at great length several historical buildings in Milan such as the Broletto and derived an original typology of a place which is closed and open at the same time.  

There are three main structures raised above the foundations of the underground floors: the Aula Magna, the large Via Roentgen building and an internal building, both reserved for offices. These different buildings are connected to each other with great compositional skill. Gravity seems to work differently throughout the structure: the masses of the offices and other functional spaces are suspended above the street, interspersed by transparent roofs. 

From an architectural point of view, the project revolves around two basic ideas: floating volumes and the diffusion of natural lighting. The slabs of the six floors of the building do not rest on pillars but hang from large beams thanks to big tie rods: a construction principle similar to that of bridges. The effect is a succession of open spaces, stairs and reinforced concrete elements that seem suspended in the sky. The visual impact is eased by the generous presence of large windows and openings, which conveys natural light to the basement levels. 

The large sidewalk in front of the building takes the city visitor into the heart of the building, in an ideal overlap of college life and urban life, highlighted by the gray color of the cladding. The building is covered in Ceppo stone from Lake Iseo, a building material which is characteristic of Milanese architecture: a conglomerate which is more resistant than cement but has the same shade, and is already very widespread in Milan on the façades of various prestigious buildings. 

Exactly one week after the inauguration, the project received the World Building of the Year Award at the World Architecture Festival organized in Barcelona by the London magazine Architectural Review.