Page 143 - C_Modena

Dipartimento di Economia “Marco Biagi” | “Marco Biagi” Department of Economics 221

The “Marco Biagi” Department of Economics

Similar to the other Departments of the University, it was founded in
2012, but it has its roots in the consolidated history of the Faculty of
Economics, established in 1968 with its first seat in Direzionale 70, a
building in via Giardini. The Department of Economics, dedicated to
the Labour Barrister Marco Biagi, aims at being the reference point for
a land that boasts entrepreneurial excellences.
The choice of locating in the Foro Boario the seat of the Faculty of Eco-
nomics – now Department of Economics – determined a synergy be-
tween the building’s architecture and the Faculty’s needs. These needs
were essentially four: studios and offices for professors and non-teach-
ing staff; didactic spaces, a lecture hall and a library; the Foro offered
spaces to meet these four types of needs. In the lateral wings – used as
studios and offices for professors and non-teaching staff located on two
floors – were metal balconies supported by central pillars that enhance
the prospective length, constituted by the repetition of the seventeen
bays. Moreover, the various rooms located on the floors of the towers
were used as didactic spaces; the rooms on the second floor of the cen-
tral body – above the portico – were used as Aula Magna (Great Hall),
while the open spaces on the ground floor were redesigned as the
library in the north wing and to exhibition spaces in the south wing.
The main choice of the project was the introduction of autonomous
structures made of metal, glass and wood in the restored areas, which
were to taken back to their original structure.
The need for a wide surface determined the rejection of restoring the
original open arches on the ground floor, which were included in the
first design plans.

Studios and offices of the Department of Economics, view of the first floor
Studios and offices of the Department of Economics, view of the ground floor