Humanities Pole, University of Padua

The new Humanities Pole of the University of Padua, northeast Italy, is strategically placed in a complex originally built at the beginning of the 16^th Century as a convent outside the old city walls. Annexed to its church, the original convent featured various intricate connections and pathways through a series of cloisters and enclosed courtyards. Down the centuries, buildings and extensions were added as the place was put to different uses.

The 19^th Century saw a radical change with its transformation into a hospital and hospice for the chronically and terminally ill, especially of society’s needy. Extensions and modernization continued from the 1880s up to the mid 20^th Century. Elevations were redesigned to meet the 19^th Century tendency to uniformity; buildings were demolished, sections rebuilt and new wings added. The cloister and courtyard format was, however, generally kept intact. In the 1970s, the place became a geriatric hospital until the facility’s final decommissioning. It was only at the beginning of the new millennium that the property was given a new lease of life with its purchase by the University of Padua and the plan to turn it into a new Humanities Pole, bringing together in one location the different faculties and service facilities dotted around the city, and adding a new central library.

The checkered architectural history of the complex required in-depth study before any new project could be launched. This was especially true in this case, since not only did the brief have to deliver a program to meet the modern demands of a university client, it was also required to contribute to a wider urban revitalization project aimed at seamlessly blending Padua’s many historical features with new architecture and technology. In this sense, the historic layout of courtyards and cloisters was a key asset for the new project, allowing parts of the university to be made...

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