• Giovanni Ruiz & Joseph Sauers

The Universita Iuav di Venezia is the premier location in Venice and the North-East region of Italy for higher education in the arts. Currently, the Campus is tucked in the South-West corner of the Venetian Historical Center. As the school population grows, the institution plans to expand its campus to accommodate the influx of new students. IUAV is a leading influence on the realization of climate change and its impacts on the earth and directly in Venice. The design we propose for the university is an expansion to the north of the campus. The site is a vacant industrial zone brownfield that will be presented as the new front of the Campus. New buildings will include state-of-the-art design facilities, a sporting complex, much-needed on-campus student housing, and a commercial district connected to Rio Tera dei Pensieri. The new construction will be self-sufficient through sustainable strategies like solar collection, rain collection, and thermal heating and cooling. Around the campus will be a linear park that follows the edge of the lagoon from the new campus to the old enhancing the quality of life for the University and the community.

• Giovanni Ruiz & Joseph Sauers

The IUAV expansion project extends the university’s programmed spaces, provides more on-campus housing for the growing student population, and continues connections between the  Tronchetto sites and the Venice mainland. The urban gesture fills in previous vacant lands to the north of the existing campus. The new urban grid establishes simpler transportation by increasing access to the site and nearby neighbourhoods. The new academic building and sports complex provide more assets to IUAV and its students. In order to fill the newly added academic spaces the master plan also includes more capacity for on-campus student housing. Connecting the new and existing campus is a linear park that borders the waterfront of the lagoon. The park acts as a buffer to protect the campus while giving the communities around the school green space for recreation.