The renovation of the 1700 Piamarta Palace (1772), aims to turn it in a university. Moreover, the project has a double goal: first changing a building that was originally the dwelling of a noble family into a university “machine” that fulfills modern requirements; secondly, give back to one of the most important historical buildings of Trentino its ancient role of a paramount construction in the urban and collective life of the city. The palace already turned into a school at the time of the Hapsburg rule, it was the Royal Elizabethan School (1890), has two symmetric courtyard once open air. The plan closes these with glass covers and makes of them the main spaces directing the fluxes of people and creating collective areas. The glass floor preserves the original continuity between the ground and the sky. The planning and later the yard architectonic direction, takes into account every detail concerning the materials, the technologies, the spaces distribution and also the many historical, urban, and security constraints.

Photo © Francesca Padovan