A higher education campus, a cozy place but open to the world to train young and very young people by merging the international school system and technologies at the service of learning

Sustainability, accessibility and innovative technology are the criteria used to describe H-Campus designed by Studio Zanon Architetti Associati inside Ca 'Tron, one of the largest single-body agricultural estates in Italy (about 2 thousand hectares) in the heart of the Sile Natural Park, between the provinces of Treviso and Venice. H-Campus is an ambitious project: a highly educated campus, an isolated but at the same time international place thanks to its proximity to Venice's Marco Polo airport. Buildings for education and at the service of education with the aim of training young and very young by merging the international school system and the use of technologies at the service of learning. The complex hosts children from kindergarten to university and offers services such as a reception center, a student residence, a greenhouse for catering, a gym with sports fields and a large central community building containing a library and meeting spaces designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour+Partners in collaboration with ZAA.

The concrete buildings, with their simple geometries, were designed to perform the functions they host and to integrate as much as possible with the environment, abandoning any intention of self-referencing. The large windows, patios, canopies and internal courtyards are places from which to enjoy nature and immerse yourself in the surrounding landscape: the architecture leaves room for greenery.

The park offers indigenous essences and types of trees that can be found in the surrounding countryside and follow one another, creating ever-changing horizons ranging from lawns, grasses, scattered trees and wooded rooms. Even the open spaces become didactic places to stimulate the new generations to know and respect the territory.

The project lives on the reciprocal exchange between environment and human life, in a symbiosis linked to an imaginary of reconstruction of the apparently compromised relationship between naturalness and anthropization."

The landscape has guided the architecture and technical choices. The project lives on the reciprocal exchange between environment and human life, in a symbiosis linked to an imaginary of reconstruction of the apparently compromised relationship between naturalness and anthropization; a key to reading aware of the need for its re-elaboration and updating. Not with the intention of nostalgically reconstituting outdated conditions, but to proceed towards new experiments, with increased awareness, through technologically and constructively innovative solutions aimed at generating a new landscape.

The campus is self-sufficient for 85% of its energy needs thanks to photovoltaic systems for storing and exchanging energy in the network. In fact, it is equipped with a photovoltaic system of over 1.2 MW distributed on the roofs of new buildings that allows the use of renewable and local solar energy to cover a large part of its consumption. The car park is equipped with electric columns to encourage zero-impact mobility and 500 bikes, e-bikes, caddy cars and electric scooters are available.