Nuovi spazi per il collegio universitario "Lorenzo Valla" tra conservazione e valorizzazione

This contribution aims to illustrate the design research carried out on the “Lorenzo Valla” College, one of the twelve university colleges for the Right to Education in the city of Pavia. The building, formerly a Student House, dates to the second half of the 1930s, when the functional inadequacy of the old premises became apparent. Its functional and social needs at the time led to the choice of a new location, because it offered direct access to the Ticino River, encouraging sporting activities. Today, the history of the building and its preservation, as both historical and architectural memory, intersects with new demands for innovation, related to its continued use as a university residence and to performance, environmental and social upgrades. These include the need for new functional spaces designed as rooftop extensions. This issue has inevitably raised the question of vertical accessibility, which has been addressed through several proposed solutions.