The former General Ettore Perrone Barrack in Novara is an important structure and site in the city, situated in a prominent position between the old town and the defensive circle of bastions. It features typical military architectural characteristics, specifically specialist terrace-style buildings, in an original layout where the main buildings were arranged in a C-shaped plan around a large open training ground. Built in the mid-1800s in the refined style of military architecture of the day, Caserma Perrone’s history shares much in common with many other military complexes in Italy: internal extensions were made within the enclosed military area; damage occurred during the Second World War (after an explosion, the original main complex of three C-shaped buildings was reduced to an L-shaped design). After World War II, the complex was used as a reception and transit center for former Italian military detainees in German concentration camps, prison survivors on their return to Italy, displaced persons, and refugees from Istria and Dalmatia; it was then abandoned, until the end of the twentieth century when it was chosen as a site for a new university. Work was initiated to restore and renew the two L-shaped buildings, including basic installations and equipment. Subsequently, in 2006, an international competition was held to complete the renewal process and finish the university project. That competition was won by a temporary joint venture of ODB Architects and Lamberto Rossi Associati. A number of different design and implementation phases have followed since then. The project for the Piemonte Orientale University campus in Novara works on multiple levels: on one hand, the idea of recovering and reusing the buildings at the former Perrone Barracks required a general rethink of the concept and role a university facility plays on a historical urban site; at the same time, the architectural and compositional focus was squarely on the characteristics associated with inserting contemporary architectural elements into a consolidated structure of specialist buildings, for which degrees of restoration and functional recovery varied. As a whole, the Campus project pursues an approach based on opening up an “enclosed area” – formally established by the military encampment – to gradual and mutual forms of exchange with the city, following a formula that envisages an interplay and interconnection between external areas frequented by the public and more reserved internal areas for specific use by the University and its students. The architectural design of the buildings destined to house university-specific functions (lecture halls, canteen, auditorium and library) references features from the existing architecture, creating significant value through a functional conversion that meets modern-day requirements. Effective energy-saving (through the use of high-performance materials and advanced construction and installation technologies) was achieved, while respecting the architectural characterization objectives of expressivity, logic and functionality. A prime example of this is the most recently-finished construction that, in many ways, embodies a virtual “restoration” of the 18th-century C-shaped plan. Overlapping and contiguous elements come together in this building: an entirely metallic structure was inserted into portions of the perimeter wall in such a manner as to be totally autonomous (suggesting an application that coheres with the general idea of a theory of “reversibility” in architectural work within a historical context; work that may be considered similar to elements of evidently historical value). An aspiration to architectural elegance is a characterizing element of buildings whose functional nature is evident in the ways that their internal spaces are configured (a free-standing span cross-section extending 18 meters, along a longitudinal measurement of 120 linear meters). This arrangement caters to the need for an effective way of dividing the teaching areas, study areas and meeting areas, featuring pathways that function in multi-faceted and differentiated ways. Incoming natural light offers a solution both for raising the standards of the interior space – via a twin line of rooftop skylights that enable light to flow into the upper level central access corridor – while rendering the lighting system more effective.

Francesco Pagliari