Renzo Piano unveils masterplan for Politecnico di Milano's Bovisa-Goccia campus

Renzo Piano has presented the masterplan for the Bovisa-Goccia campus expansion of Politecnico di Milano, a 32-hectare project that will add twenty new buildings by 2026. The architect, who graduated from the university in 1964, donated his archive to the institution. The zero-carbon, energy-independent complex will feature four-story wooden structures, student residences for 500 units, classrooms, labs, a conference hall, and spaces for startups. The project, developed with studio RPWB, is a public-private partnership involving the municipality (23.4 hectares) and the university (9.1 hectares), adjacent to a 24-hectare forest. Existing industrial archaeology, including gasometers and a thermal plant, will be restored. The campus, renamed Campus Nord, aims for high permeability with glass ground floors to foster community exchange. Infrastructure improvements include a cycle-pedestrian axis and interconnection between Bovisa and Villapizzone stations. Mayor Beppe Sala called it a synthesis of city policies: 15-minute neighborhood development, environmental attention, university collaboration, and student housing. Rector Ferruccio Resta described it as a laboratory for urban, technological, and social challenges.