After being awarded in a tender launched by the Italian Ministry of Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility, Politecna is working on the redevelopment and refunctionalization project of the former D’Azeglio Barracks in Bologna, a complex built between 1850 and 1870, considered of great interest for being among the main post-unification military architectures that have contributed to defining a new national identity.

Part of the compendium, originally built for military housing, is composed of several buildings arranged along an open portico surrounding an internal courtyard. The new project, carried out with Studio Spibs, aims to restore the complex to its original prestige by ensuring interior comfort and efficiency without altering its architectural identity.

After winning a public competition called by the Italian State Property Agency (Agenzia del Demanio), Politecna kicks off the project for the redevelopment of the former Litta-Modignani barracks in Pinerolo and started the design with Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia.

The refunctionalization work will involve seven buildings in the compendium, intended to house the offices and archives of the Italian Internal Revenue Service (Agenzia delle Entrate). The project is part of the Agenzia del Demanio’s broader strategy to enhance underused historic architecture by housing public administrations to encourage a reduction in the cost of managing public assets.

The former Litta Modignani barracks will be returned to the community by preserving its historical-architectural value, a witness to the area’s military tradition. Erected on an area that until the 1930s constituted the original Riding Ground of the Military School, the barracks was built in successive phases, with an initial facility built in the 1930s-1940s and subsequent extensions until the 1980s, with the current configuration.

Image courtesy: ©Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia AF517