The increase in the number of student and the consequent need for expanding the Politecnico has been tackled organically sincethe 1940s with an expansion project that identified the buildings necessary for strengthening the university.
The lack of funds and the war, however, postponed the real implementation of the plan until the Reconstruction years, when Piero Portaluppi undertook a detailed building program of the new Faculty of Architecture. 
The basic principle of the building constructed in the 1950s is to be credited to Gio Ponti: “It will be a teaching building” is the statement that characterizes the architect’s wish when designing this building, of which only a part will be carried out.
In the 1970s, the uncontrolled increase in the number of students required an additional expansion of the Faculty. The project was commissioned to Vittoriano Viganò, who looked to the previous project byh Ponti and Forti, reinterpreted it and constructed the new building with the big “A” next to the existing building.
The history of the Politecnico continued when the problem of the lack of space and the ever-increasing number of registered students (of both Engineering and Architecture) represented itself in the 1990s . The further expansion will take place in a widespread and organized way on the entire Lombardy territory, starting from the site of the Politecnico in the Bovisa district (refer to the specific section) to the realization of the Mantova, Como, Lecco and Cremona premises.
The building designed by Ponti and Forti has a rectangular plan, is developed on two floors and includes a basement.
The structure is made of reinforced concrete and the facades are characterized by large uninterrupted openings that show the large interiors. The accesses (originally there were two) are located on via Bonardi and they are different according to the users: the student access leads to a path reserved for them up to the hall and the internal staircase; the main entrance (which no longer exists) led to the main lobby and went on from there to the gallery of the staircase and the library.
An important feature of the project is the presence of the internal courtyard, around which all student activities take place, from classes to exhibitions (exhibition spaces are arranged around the courtyard), from the direction to the facilities
The basement, which is accessed through the garden, has a portico for parking scooters and bicycles, a large hall for technological exhibition and laboratories for drawing and moulding, finally the foyer and the student bar.
The operation includes a part of the project that involves the front area of the building, characterized by the entrances on the ground floor and the portion of the terraced classrooms on the first floor.
”It will be a teaching building, a building that will feature all types of doors and windows, floors, materials, equipment, finishes, furniture, paints, heating systems, lighting, structures, etc. It will be not a school like all the others [...]: it will be a school of architecture [...]" (Gio Ponti, Le produzioni moderne per l'architettura sono chiamate ad intervenire nell'efficienza dell'insegnamento di una nuova scuola moderna di architettura, in Domus 296, 1954).
Viganò doubles the usable surface by expanding the open spaces, the porticoes and the courtyard.
The project structure is based on the previous structure from 1955, but with a fundamental change: it turns Ponti’s central courtyard into a “covered courtyard open towards the road … that facilitates the exchange between the city and the university structure”. This element of the project is enhanced by the internal layout of integrated functions (library, exhibition spaces, hall …), directly reachable from outside, that overlook this access and stay area, and the closing of traffic of the end section of Via Ampère.
Viganò’s expansion continues the existing buildings both physically and visually in the attempt to create an organic and balanced union of spaces and functions, at the same time imposing a clear separation between old and new that is determined by the use of a totally opposite construction and expression systems.
The technological aspect of the building is predominating: the metal structure with its 8x8-meter-big modular grid is supported by cross-section iron beams with a maximum height of 22 meters, whose end sections support the skylights.
The new structure redefines the internal layout of spaces and functions, identifying precise areas: for teaching, research, presidency and administrative direction, representative and cultural service areas, staff areas, parking, accessory and technical areas.
Pedestrian entrances are on Via Ampère separate from the vehicle entrances located on Via Bonardi.
External and internal flexibility characterize this building, which was designed at a time of great expansion of the student population and great need for spaces and facilities.
How to get there: Public transportation: MM2 Piola station; overground lines: 11 - 23 - 921 - 90 - 91 - 93 - 62
Modern architecture in the surrounding areas: Other Politecnico buildings; Faculty of Biology
Useful information: Telephone: 02.23991 - 02.23992624 Fax: 02.23992610 E-mail: presidenza.architettura@polimi.it Web site: http://www.arch.polimi.it
Sources: A come Architettura. Vittoriano Viganò, Electa, Milano 1993
Attilio Stocchi, Vittoriano Viganò. Etica brutalista, Testo&Immagine, Torino 1999
Renato Pedio, Itinerario di Vittoriano Viganò architetto, in L'archtettura cronache e storia n. 166, 1969
Casabella n. 481, 1982
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