Laboratorio Permanente

The Stephenson district is largely characterised by the presence of introverted buildings, rigidly defined by boundaries and enclosures. The building works as a big and bright lantern that, through its transparency, establishes a relationship of continuity with the external spaces. The central position occupied by the project area represents the great opportunity to rethinak a stronger public space able to reconnect the existing discontinuity, becoming a condenser of new social activities. In a context defined by the diffuse presence of vertical buildings, the choice of a flat volume gives higher visibility to the architecture that, due to its horizontality, contrasts the background. The horizontal landmark has been conceived as a super-infrastructure that works in harmony with its environmental and social context by offering new liveable spaces for the entire district. A mineral podium intersects the constructed architecture, extending the public space inside and approaching the working environments, with a continuous system of collective terraces and gathering places. The organisation of the inside space has been designed to provide maximum flexibility: the project models the volume defining a complex architecture where working spaces interact with collective ones in a composition of formal and informal environments.