H-Campus, where architecture and countryside come together for education

H-Campus, where architecture and countryside come together for education

ZAA designed a 30 ha educational campus near the Sile river and the Venetian lagoon with buildings that merge with the local farmland

H-Farm is a business and training center geared to innovation through new technologies. It is located in the green countryside of Treviso, near the Sile river and the Venetian lagoon. And in an adjacent 30 ha area, it challenged Zanon Architetti Associati (ZAA) to create an international education district, H-Campus. The main intent was to establish an architecture complementary to the context of intensively cultivated farmland in an isolated but at the same time international location thanks to its proximity to Venice airport.

In the buildings, with a total floor area of 27,000 sqm, young people and children are trained by merging the international school system and technologies at the service of learning. The complex accommodates children from kindergarten to university. It also offers services such as a welcome center, a student house, a greenhouse for catering, a gymnasium with sports fields, and a large central community building with a library and meeting spaces.

The main intent was to establish an architecture complementary to the context of intensively cultivated farmland in an isolated but at the same time international location

The concrete buildings with their simple geometries have been designed to perform the functions they are hosting and to integrate as much as possible with the environment. The large windows, patios, canopies, and internal courtyards are places from which to admire nature and immerse yourself in the surrounding landscape. Here, architecture leaves space for vegetation. The park has been planted with native plants that are also present in the surrounding countryside. Succeeding one another, they create ever-changing horizons ranging from lawns, grasses, scattered trees, and wooded rooms. The landscape also becomes an educational place that stimulates the new generations to know and respect the territory. Indeed, it was the landscape to guide architecture and technical choices, not vice versa.