From a Historic Place to a Sharing Campus: Case Study of the Santa Teresa Campus of the University of Florence

Abstract

The Santa Teresa Campus of the University of Florence has undergone a huge transformation from a 17th century convent, to the prison of the 19th and 20th centuries, and then to a 21st century university campus. Over four centuries, the form has evolved from closed to open. With the help of literature survey, field research and typological analysis of urban form, this paper analyzes the renovation strategies from three aspects. From the perspective of an open educational space, the case transforms the original internal communication space into an exhibition space open to the city. From the perspective of perceptible history, the case preserves the historic space structure and allows important historical elements to be easily seen and touched. From the perspective of the revival of the historic city, the case has become an important node of the revival by building connections of functions and activities with surrounding places. Finally, this paper summarizes three design strategies and four social conditions required for the transition from enclosed to shared urban form, making contributions to future practice. This paper is subsidized by the NSFC project named <Research on Time and Space Elements and Expression System of ‘Sharing Architecture’>, NO.51978468.