The construction project

The Tecnopolo Manifattura | Data Valley Hub extends over an area of more than 120,000m2, designed and built in the 1950s by Pier Luigi Nervi for the former Tobacco Factory (ex-Manifattura Tabacchi), with architectural solutions still considered innovative today. The current work represents an important pioneering urban regeneration and redevelopment project for the city of Bologna. The masterplan project was the subject of an international architecture and urban development competition and was won in 2012 by GMP Architekten (von Gerkan, Marg and Partner). The GMP project envisages the restoration and recovery of listed buildings while designing new buildings, mainly facing Via della Manifattura.

Besides being home to the Supercomputing infrastructure, the Technopole will welcome spaces dedicated to research and institutions, areas devoted to entrepreneurship and to the acceleration of innovation and creativity, as well as common spaces where there will be service and catering areas.