Sarfatti 10

The new campus area was inaugurated on 25 November 2019. It owes its name to Japanese architecture firm SANAA, winner of the international competition launched by Bocconi University in 2012 to satisfy the global positioning of the School of Management and the growing needs of its students. 

The architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, who founded the SANAA architectural firm (Sejima And Nishizawa And Associates) in Tokyo in 1995, had already completed important works: among the most famous, the Christian Dior Building in Omotesandō, Tokyo, and the Glass Pavilion of the Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio. In 2008 they had won the 9th International Architecture Exhibition (Venice Biennnale), and in 2010 the firm had been awarded the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize for their innovative vision, commitment and talent. 

The project created for Bocconi by the Japanese firm represents a real redevelopment and landscaping project for the entire area, in a harmony of built environment and green spaces: on a surface of over 35,000 square meters at Via Sarfatti 10, where Milan’s milk bottling plant was once located, five buildings were erected that stand out for the transparency of the materials used (glass walls) and for the circularity and sinuosity of shapes.  

In the construction of the new complex, great attention was given to environmental sustainability, with numerous innovative solutions that guarantee energy self-sufficiency on a year-long basis and absence of harmful emissions. All the buildings are covered with high-efficiency photovoltaic panels and are equipped with heat pumps, rainwater recycling systems and refrigeration units to balance thermal needs. The aluminum screening around the buildings allows a low temperature to be maintained inside in the summer. There is also an automatic system for controlling lighting in each individual space, and the SDA Bocconi Campus has obtained the LEED Platinum Certification for eco-sustainability. 

Each of the five buildings has its own specific function: Programs for Executives, Specialized Master Programs, Faculty Offices, the 300-room Castiglioni University Residence and the Bocconi Sport Center. 

There are also two conference halls: the Ferrero Auditorium (150 seats), dedicated to the memory of Michele Ferrero, which represents the most iconic and innovative classroom of the entire campus due to its circular shape particularly suited for direct interaction between speakers and audience, and the Grande Auditorium (300 seats), with a more traditional layout that includes a fixed stage and a podium. 

In the building for Executive Programs, there is also a foyer dedicated to exhibitions and the display of contemporary art works belonging to the Bocconi Art Gallery (BAG), a tangible sign of Bocconi's interest in and attention to the world of art. 

In 2021, on the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the SDA Bocconi School of Management, Poetario was installed on the side of the facility erected along Via Sarfatti. It is a work of art created by Giorgio Milani made of seeded concrete blocks which reads: "A business school serves the community when it operates in constant tension between the need to prepare for practicing the managerial profession and the need to produce constructive criticism for the search for more just economic and organizational structures." 

Overall, the new campus area contains 40 classrooms for a total of 2,400 seats. 

Only from a specific vantage point at the entrance to the gardens does the portrayal of the SDA Bocconi brand become legible. Miyagi's installation aims to remind us that reality is never as it appears prima facie, and that knowledge and education are needed to find the right perspective and the correct interpretation.