The prestigious LUMSA University (Libera Università Maria SS Assunta) was established in Rome in 1939, just a stone’s throw from Vatican City. The shading structure stretching above the courtyard was imagined as a link between the sky and the fountain below. It was made from Serge Ferrari’s Frontside Print 371 composite membrane.
Ideally located on Borgo Sant’Angelo, close to Vatican City, LUMSA is the second oldest university in Rome. The shading structure project in Frontside Print 371 stretches over the Secretariat Courtyard, the Portico Piazzetta, designed as a meeting place for students. Offering protection from the sunlight and the heat was a necessary condition to create a pleasant environment for students and a potential venue to host a variety of events and cultural activities, even during the height of summer.
The project was entrusted to the architects at Vittorio Petrucci, who chose an aesthetic and durable shading solution with an unusual shape that blends in seamlessly with the surrounding architecture. The quality of Serge Ferrari’s products was the only possible choice for this project.
Originally, the courtyard of the University’s main building was not covered, letting natural light flow in. The environment was pleasant, but became useless on hot or rainy days. By adding a specially-designed roof structure, the architects at Vittorio Petrucci wanted to provide shade and protection while maintaining the elegance of the courtyard and ensuring a sufficient inflow of natural light. The qualities of Serge Ferrari’s micro-perforated Frontside Print 371 membrane made it just the right product to meet all of the project’s requirements: temperature regulation, permeability to natural light, sufficient through visibility, not to mention the product’s capacity to accommodate the unusual shapes of contemporary architectural features for a visually pleasing result.
More than 150 sqm of Frontside Print 371 membrane
The white-coloured shading structure, whose aspect changes depending on the time of day, is fitted just inside the oval-shaped opening in the roof. The stretch structure, which guarantees thermal and aesthetic comfort in the courtyard and behind the windows opening onto it, was attached to the original edge of the roof using highly resistant metal fixing plates. In the lower end of the cone, a steel ring maintains constant tension on the membrane, thus stabilising it against weather conditions (wind, rain, hail, heat). Tensile cables are fastened to the central ring and to a steel cylinder anchored to the ground. Beside its aesthetic qualities, the choice of this membrane was guided by its extreme durability (exceeding 30 years), dimensional stability, resistance to fouling and recyclability.
Frontside Print 371: lightweight, durable and modern
The Serge Ferrari Group has designed and manufactured innovative flexible composite materials since 1973. Thanks to the quality of its products and its unique proprietary technology – Précontraint –, Serge Ferrari’s products have been chosen for the design of a number of roof and façade structures. The globally patented Précontraint technology consists in maintaining biaxial tension on the membrane throughout the entire manufacturing process. A unique know-how, which delivers excellent mechanical resistance and exceptional durability. This extraordinary technology has made the Serge Ferrari Group a reference for high-profile architectural projects around the globe.
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