The Dome: A new university pavilion

15 Jan 2024

In collaboration with Studio Gemma

Photo credit: Marco Cappelletti

Alvisi Kirimoto introduces “The Dome” — a new hub surrounded by greenery for the LUISS Guido Carli University campus, designed in collaboration with Studio Gemma, near Villa Ada, in the heart of the Parioli district of Rome.

The intervention, which completes the university spaces and enhances the surrounding green areas, involved the demolition of an existing shed, subject to landscape constraints, construction from scratch, and the expansion of an educational building.

The hub developed across two levels, and with a total area of 1,500m², is positioned in the most accessible and picturesque point of the complex landscape, near a small wooded area to the south of the lot, in the last extension of the park and the campus main square.

The project stems from the idea of raising the volume to directly connect with the treetops, freeing up the ground floor as much as possible. The latter houses the entrance, a classroom, and service areas, while the upper floor encompasses a theatre and two classrooms.

Surrounded by greenery, and with a permeable and transparent skin, the building seems to dissolve into the landscape, evoking the classic tree house from which its outline is derived, but also the welcoming, almost "homey" dimension of its spaces, custom-designed for the students.

The interiors have been carefully designed to ensure greater versatility for hosting various educational activities, as well as cultural, artistic, and social events, including conferences, gala evenings, and film screenings. The amphitheatre – designed for multiple uses – and the classrooms, designed to redefine the balance between face-to-face teaching and remote learning, are equipped with sophisticated audiovisual conferencing systems perfectly integrated into the architecture.

A cross-flight staircase connects the two levels internally via a double-height space, while a third staircase connects the first floor with the outside. The ground floor, visibly set back, further underlines the lightness of the upper volume and creates a simultaneously open and covered space, equipped for courses and outdoor activities.

Clad in natural wood slats and glass, the upper floor projects the building into the treetops, creating a privileged dialogue between architecture and context, and offering a dynamic cross-section of the activities that take place inside.

"The indissoluble link between the structure and the surrounding greenery signals an innovative approach to education which, to encourage learning, focuses on the well-being generated by a relationship with nature," explains architect Massimo Alvisi, co-founder of the studio. "The high permeability that characterizes the skin of the building not only facilitates immersion into the landscape and fosters exchange among the entire student community, but it is also a conceptual choice that reflects the openness of the campus."

The colours, textures, and materials of the project were chosen with the same sensitivity: the shades of the metal cladding and the scratched plaster mix with the warm nuance of the wood in a balanced game of references and contrasts. Inspired by sustainable design principles and made of natural materials, the building has earned the prestigious LEED Platinum Certification.

The suspended acoustic panels that define the false ceiling of the amphitheatre, with a coral red colour, draw attention from the outside, while their organic silhouette reinforces the dialogue with the adjacent grove. The same striking red characterizes the furnishings and some elements of the classrooms, a refined detail that provides the entire complex with great visual coherence, particularly when the building comes to life in the early evening.

The outdoor spaces have been redesigned with stabilized gravel flooring, while a deck path, protected by the shade of a row of holm oaks, connects the grove area with the square. All the outdoor areas have been equipped and designed to encourage study, informal meetings, relaxation, and play, offering infinite possibilities for aggregation and great flexibility in use.

Resembling an enormous telescope that projects out over the greenery and watches over the square below, the project by Alvisi Kirimoto has become the new focal point of life on the university campus.