NOI Techpark Innovation District
Place: Bolzano
Customer: Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano
Architect: Chapman Taylor architetti – Claudio Lucchin & architetti associati –
Arch. Mauro dell’Orco
Year: 2008 – 2017
Surface: 44.000 m²
Located in the industrial south area of Bolzano, NOI Techpark – acronym of “Nature of Innovation” – stands on the former Alumix area that, from 1937 to the end of the last century, hosted one of the main Italian factories for aluminum processing.
The redevelopment of the area, following the divestment of the production activity of the former factory, has created a technology and research district with laboratories, universities, scientific institutes and services for companies, with a sustainability approach.
The new Innovation Hub, which represents an example of a large intervention of an abandoned area recovery, has been designed as a large zero impact Green Park integrated into the urban fabric and is now one of the main Italian innovation centers focused on sustainability issues, food, digital technologies, automotive industry and automation.
The project, designed by Chapman Taylor with Claudio Lucchin, has recovered the two buildings “BZ1” and “BZ2”, which once housed the power transformation plants and, as an extension to the “BZ1” building, has provided the creation of a new iconic element, the “Black Monolith”, characterized by facades covered with aluminum foam panels, in memory of the activity carried out in the former industrial site.
Finally, the old piezometric tower has been restored and is still in use to supply process water to the nearby Aluminium Bozen industrial plant, whose reuse represents the primary source of energy for the production of hot and cold fluids necessary for the air conditioning of the entire complex.
NOI Techpark has adopted technology in the name of sustainability.
The project has been the first in Europe and second in the world to obtain Leed ND v4: Plan Gold (for Neighborhood Development) certification, a protocol that considers all aspects of building, energy, environmental and transportation design at the neighborhood level.
Moreover, NOI Techpark has pursued the concept of NZEB (Nearly Zero Energy Building) characterizing itself as a zero emission building that consumes the energy it produces.
Large glass surfaces allow natural light to spread throughout the occupied spaces; motorized shutters and motorized windows, which can be opened by the BMS system, allow night ventilation to be activated during the summer period with consequent savings in consumption.
Concerning the electricity, this is partially produced by a photovoltaic array positioned on the roof of the “Black Monolith while, for summer and winter air conditioning, the energy is produced by indirect geothermal source.
Opened in 2017, the Complex houses four Research Institutes (Fraunhofer Italia, Eurac Research, ClimateHouse Agency and the Laimburges Experimentation Center), four faculties of the University of Bolzano, scientific laboratories, companies and start-up.
