Francesco Venezia is a significant and original contemporary Italian architect: his work and research plays with the presence of natural light and its interplay with darkness. His space for the Material Testing Laboratory, where the University does research and studies full-scale structures with static and dynamic tests, looks like a big cubic box without windows. The internal space is modulated by the natural light which enters from below, through a long narrow opening on the building’s perimeter, and from above, through a series of skylights, creating an atmosphere of suspense and immobility.  

The building has been conceived as a shell protecting a central nucleus with the industrial ‘bridge crane’ supported by two rows of pilasters. Daylight, entering from above using a series of smaller skylights surrounding the large one on the main space, defines the space and plays with rough surfaces.The original and innovative use of materials have a vital intensity due to the use of daylighting.

drawing source: archisquare.it