UniCredit Pavilion (since 2019 IBM Studios)

The UniCredit Pavilion is a multi-purpose wooden building, destined to host events and public displays for adults and children. It sits in a privileged position in the context of Porta Nuova, at the foot of the mirror glass towers of Unicredit and connected to the “Library of Trees”, as Michele De Lucchi writes: “you can immediately understand that it is neither a condominium nor an office building and it is memorised with the emotional power of a monument, a symbol between the nature of the park and the people of skyscrapers”.
The rounded volume is inspired by the shape of a seed and the materials are natural. The rib structure covering the outside of the pavilion consists of a network of large vertical ribs and beams made of larch Glulam. Contained beneath this skin, a glass box supports the rounded roof cover of solar panels. The building opens to the outside thanks to two lateral main doors – endowed with large monitors – which are raised like wings for holding events that are open to the city. Inside, the three levels are open environments that are adaptable to suit different configurations. A suspended walkway runs along the internal perimeter of the building to host temporary exhibitions. The architecture has no foundations but is constructed on a reinforced concrete platform resting on the underground car park.
In 2019, the pavilion became IBM Studios, demonstrating its vocation as a flexible, multi-purpose space able to be adapted to suit changing needs: a unique, open, equipped and friendly place for organising events, displays, presentations, concerts, performances, exhibitions and anything else that generates work, knowledge and leisure.