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Student housing Bologna Navile, a U-shaped structure

TECO+partners

Housing  /  Future
TECO+partners

The design goal is to create a building that encourages interaction between students and integrates with the wider urban environment. The building is designed as a U-shaped structure whose two arms follow the boundaries of the lot and rise parallel to the adjacent building, creating a central courtyard that fosters a sense of community among residents. The different heights of the building facades are designed to harmonize with the surrounding urban context and optimize the use of space. The towers at the ends provide additional living capacity and serve as architectural landmarks. The use of colors and the different designs of the facades underline the internal/external contrast.

The urban design is dictated by a master plan that defines the blocks, building heights, and the arrangement of the towers within the block. The master plan also stipulated that the buildings be surrounded on all sides by public streets and that the green areas be concentrated in the eastern part of the site. The project had to engage with these constraints, aiming to propose a straightforward design. The building contributes to the formation of the built frontage along the main road of the area, with its most prominent side facing the park. It opens outward at the lower levels, which house the most public functions, and closes off at the upper floors where the rooms are located, clearly indicating the building's hospitality use. The massive volumes contrast with the greenery of the rooftop gardens.

The building is equipped with photovoltaic and thermal solar panels, reducing dependence on non-renewable energy sources. Protection from excessive sunlight, naturally aiding summer cooling, is achieved through mobile sunshades and strategically placed photovoltaic panels that both generate energy and reduce consumption. The fourth-floor roof will feature a terrace and an extensive green roof. Advanced rainwater collection and reuse systems are implemented for irrigating green areas. An appropriately sized recycling center on the ground floor will facilitate waste sorting. Aiming for high environmental performance and BREEAM-level efficiency, the project promotes pedestrian and bicycle mobility over vehicular traffic by designing areas equipped for bicycle storage and maintenance.

The building houses a student residence and a minority portion of a hotel. There are 630 beds with a total Gross Floor Area of 21,000 square meters. On the ground floor, there are common recreational and study spaces, as well as a bar and restaurant. In the basement, there are parking spaces and bicycle spots for the users of the facility. The rooftop, the internal courtyard, and the porticoed sections on the ground floor provide recreational and relaxation areas. The exterior facades feature a gradient of light blue that fades upwards, creating a visual connection with the sky. On the opposite corner façade, the color gradient proceeds in the opposite way, lighter at the bottom and darker at the top, emphasizing the dematerialization effect, which is particularly appreciated on the corners of the building. This design choice softens the building's presence and allows it to blend more naturally with its surroundings. The slightly protruding grid on the exterior facades adds depth and dimension. The inclusion of green spaces and vegetation around the building and within the courtyard enhances the connection to nature and contributes to the overall aesthetic and environmental quality of the area. The building's varying heights, with its base ranging from four to five stories and three ten-story towers, are designed to complement the scale of nearby structures, ensuring it fits seamlessly into the existing urban fabric.

We were determined to ensure that CX's entry into the Bologna market happened with a significant initiative, stated Samuele Annibali, CEO of CampusX.

Credits

 Bologna
 Italy
 CampusX/Techbau S.p.a
 Student housing
 06/2026
 21000 sq. m
 Confidential
 Luigi Benatti
 Pietro Benedettini, Martina Iafrate, Sara Stefanati, Ottavio Bariselli, Massimo Savini, Claudia Pacchiega, Daniele Mietto
 Techbau S.p.a
 IDF srl, Studio Raffellini, Studio Proel, Pro Acustica

Curriculum

TECO+ partners is an architectural firm based in Bologna, consisting of 6 partners and a team of 30 collaborators, architects, civil engineers and designers.
The firm designs residential, scholastic and sports buildings and complexes, as well as offices and productive establishments in Italy and abroad.
The environmental quality of projects arises from study and experience of techniques for the use of renewable energies, bio-architecture construction systems, biocompatible materials and passive climate control.
TECO+partners designs residences for young students’ communities in which the architectural composition helps to trigger new processes of socialization and relations between the inhabitants. Buildings in the service of culture and education, attentive towards the environment and innovation. Broader projects of urban regeneration that restore life to entire city areas.

https://www.teco-partners.it/


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