Project
2004-2006

Construction
2006-2008

Function
services and offices

Surface Area
7.700 sq m

Client
river s.p.a.

Project Team
Architecture
blast s.r.l.

Innovative Technologies
giancarlo magnoli

Structures
ced ingegneria s.r.l.

Town Planning
studio rizzi

Heating Systems
digierre3 s.r.l.

Electrical Systems
s.i.e. s.r.l.

Hydraulics Systems
digierre3 s.r.l.

Landscape Design
land s.r.l.

The Centro delle Professioni (Professional Centre) is the main “portal” that welcomes people into Kilometro Rosso. It is also a meeting place for the various research activities that take place across the campus. This is why it is intended to house support activities and services (bank and postal counters, news stands, specialist bookshops, etc.), food and drink outlets, meeting and conference rooms, and administrative offices of various sizes.
The volume of the building is attached directly to the red wall. A vast pedestrian thoroughfare runs through it lengthways, and is lit from above by large skylights. At the end of it is a large glass-fronted hall overlooking the park. In addition to bringing together all the routes through the building, this sort of rue intérieur welcomes visitors arriving from the car-park through the wide entrance portal that is formed out of the red wall, following Nouvel’s design indications.
The public areas inside are paved with limestone slabs. This distinguished material is also used for parts of the footpaths that extend into the park. The façades, with the exception of the glass surface of the hall, are faced with a sophisticated system of steel mesh sheeting and recomposed stone slabs.
The building’s “ecological footprint” has been reduced thanks to the care taken over containing energy consumption. The overhangs on the façades, the ventilated frontage systems and the high degree of insulation give it an advanced sustainability rating, placing it into energy consumption category “A” (Law Decree n° 192/05) . Its energy performance will be monitored constantly in a study conducted by the University of Bergamo and Bari Polytechnic.