Construction of a laboratory for the Mestre branch of Venice University

The new construction science laboratory stands in Mestre on city land expressly granted to Venice university structures for the creation of a science hub. The lab’s central core consists of a grid of reinforced concrete partitions and a “bridge crane” supported by two sets of pillars. The building’s design recalls a shell lowered from above to protect the central core.

The interior space is filled below by natural light from a window around the perimeter and above from a series of smaller skylights surrounding the large skylight at the center.

The building shell is finished with an aerated facing of slabs of rose pink Nembro marble.

The skylights are lined with quartz zinc slabs.

The two halves of the roof terrace connected by the projecting exterior passageway come together in a walled roof garden.

The new laboratory stands in a slight depression: this basin was made by blending flakes of the marble used for the facade were blended in the concrete mix in the ancient Roman  cocciopesto (opus signinum) technique.

Location: Mestre (VE), Via Torino 153
Building function: University building- new construction
Client: Venice IUAV University of Architecture

Data:

Contract value: 2.3 million euros
Completion: 2003
Highlights: 1,400 sq m surface area