SDA Bocconi’s new Campus is a LEED certified “green building”

Sustainability? You can see it, you can touch it, you can live it. Far from mere statements of principle, SDA Bocconi has made a tangible environmental contribution to the city by creating a certified “green building,” namely its new Campus – three buildings, including a sports center and a residence hall, which have been certified “Platinum” by ICMQ (Istituto di Certificazione e Marchio Qualità, Certification and Quality Branding Institute). “Platinum” is the highest rating of the LEED certificate (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), the most widely used rating system for ecological buildings worldwide, and a mark of excellence for sustainable architecture.

This success goes way back to the conception of the campus and is the result of teamwork between Bocconi University, Sanaa, the Japanese architecture firm led by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawae and the various supplier companies. Coordinated by an ICMQ team, they arranged every phase of the building process to ensure high levels of indoor comfort and optimal energy performance.

A few figures are enough to give an idea of the great achievement in terms of environmental impact reduction:

• 74% total energy consumption per year, thanks to the solar power plant installed on campus and covering 19% of annual costs;
• 42% total indoor water consumption per year, thanks to low-flow equipment (taps, showers, sanitary equipment);
• 97% recycling of building waste, by carefully organizing processing, collection and storage of waste materials;
• 32% of building materials from recycling, through a methodical selection and verification by LEED consultants, thus reducing the impacts resulting from the extraction and processing of raw materials;
• 47% regionally sourced building materials, mined and processed within a limited distance from the site so as to use local resources and reduce impact on the environment from transportation;
• use of low-emission materials and products to ensure the quality of the indoor environment. Paints, adhesives and coatings which have extremely low levels of harmful chemical emissions were used.

All the buildings are also designed to enhance ideal sun lighting and natural ventilation, so as to minimize the use of artificial light and reduce energy consumption. Rainwater is also collected and reused.

LEED certification is the most recent stage in the journey towards sustainability that SDA Bocconi has been undertaking for years and which is as much a part of its “cultural message” as of its concrete actions.



SDA Bocconi School of Management