Saturday 16 March saw the inauguration of Shed 15C, a redeveloped space within the Reggiane Parco Innovazione urban regeneration project as the headquarters of UNIMORE fourth university campus in Reggio Emilia. The building was named after Professor Giulio Santagata, the first president of STU Reggiane spa, a former Minister and collaborator of Romano Prodi. Inside the pavilion, in spaces covering 3,950 sqm, degree courses will be organised in Digital Education and in Psychological Sciences and Techniques; the Faculty of Engineering will also offer a course in Digital Automation Engineering.
The OMI – Officine Meccaniche Italiane occupied an area of about 100,000 sqm and was, at the beginning of the 20th century, one of the largest plants in Italy. For almost 100 years, the workshops were a centre of vast production, from war machines to railways, from engines to large mechanical manufactures, and played a leading role in the industrial and social life of Reggio Emilia, employing up to 1,300 workers.
Today, the area and the surviving buildings are included in the ‘Reggiane-Santa Croce’ Urban Redevelopment Programme (Pru), promoted by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, and see the action of an STU (Società di Trasformazione Urbana – Urban Transformation Company) set up ad hoc and active in proposing and implementing a slow but effective functional conversion.
The Capannone 15C project is the result of a complex team effort that has united Cooperativa Architetti e Ingegneri Progettazione of Reggio Emilia, the agent of the RTP (Raggruppamento Temporaneo di Professionisti) with Zamboni Associati Architettura with Studio T.En. and Studio Silva.
“We are very pleased to have contributed to the redevelopment of this space, which represents an investment in knowledge and know-how, aimed at young people,” says Architect Nello Tafuro, Works Director of the project and CEO of Cairepro – an integrated design company. “As professionals but also as citizens, we are firmly convinced that the urban regeneration operation entrusted to STU Reggiane is the result of a forward-looking and sustainable vision for the social and economic development of the city of Reggio Emilia.
“What was once a space for heavy industry now becomes a place of training and knowledge, a true knowledge factory for the new generations,” says Architect Andrea Zamboni of Zamboni Associati, the architectural designer of the project together with Cairepro. “For the project, we were inspired by this image, and the new structure created inside the factory traces the shape of the sheds that emerge from the walls, allowing the classrooms and laboratories to enjoy constant natural light, just like the factory itself. While the covered square we have created inside the building represents the symbol of innovation and the meeting of different knowledge, thanks to the students who will create a new space with a strong public value”.
Photo credits: Kai-Uwe Schulte Bunert e Tommaso Cabassi