Science Research Center University of Connecticut / Payette

The centerpiece of the University of Connecticut's new 22-acre Northwest Science Quad District, Science 1, is a 198,000 SF academic research building dedicated to the interdisciplinary fields of materials science and engineering. The project is the first large-scale realization of a comprehensive campus master plan strategy centered around stormwater capture and treatment.

The house was designed for a family of 5. The investors intended the functional program to be very extensive: a living area with a wide sofa and a large dining room (the investors have a large family and like to invite guests); a large kitchen with an everyday table plus a dirty kitchen. Each child was to have their own dressing room and small bathroom; double bedroom with bathroom and dressing room; office and fitness zone with saunas and guest room. In the basement, investors dreamed of a wine cellar and another pickle kitchen. When designing the house, from the very beginning, we were looking for suitable places for numerous paintings and furniture - family souvenirs... and even a casement window saved from one of the houses.

The Benedictine Monastery of San Nicolò l’Arena in Catania, Sicily, holds within its stones the echoes of five centuries, shaped by time, varied uses, violent earthquakes, and the blazing force of Mount Etna. Its walls, silent witnesses to history, were molded both by the fire of nature and by human hands. Yet among all the transformations it underwent, none was as profound or poetic as the one led by Italian architect Giancarlo De Carlo, starting in 1980. After 30 years of dedicated work, time required to truly understand such a complex and awe-inspiring site, the former monastic residence was reborn as a university, not by force, but through revelation.

Within a defined footprint, an unexpected figure arises. The conventional sloped roof of the suburban house is inverted—one side curved, the other straight—producing a peculiar silhouette that disrupts the monotonous suburbia. The volume resembles an exploded box sitting on a translucent plinth.