Ready, Set, Go! Bocconi Inaugurates Its New Sport Center on 18 and 19 September
Kick-off for the new Bocconi Sport Center: on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 September the sports facility, which houses two swimming pools (one Olympic size and one of 25-meter), a fitness club, basketball, volleyball, 5-a-side football fields and a running track, will introduce itself to the Bocconi community and Milan. Two days of events organized in partnership with the Gazzetta dello Sport, with sports performances and guided tours open to the public.
On 18 September at 11:30am, the inauguration will be launched by a ceremony with the participation of the mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, the Prime Minister's undersecretary delegate for Sport, Valentina Vezzali, the president of the Italian National Olympic Committee, Giovanni Malagò, and by the president of the Italian Paralympic Committee, Luca Pancalli. At the end, an exhibition by the Farfalle, the Italian National Rhythmic Gymnastics team, fresh from the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. The ceremony, by invitation only, will be streamed on the Bocconi and Gazzetta channels.
The party will then continue, over Saturday and Sunday, with performances in the campus park by the group Freestyle Da Move, the Bocconi sports teams, and with activities organized by Virgin Active and Aquamore, which manage the fitness club and the pools respectively in collaboration with Bocconi. To comply with the provisions dictated by the Covid emergency, it will be possible to visit the Bocconi Sport Center only by presenting the Green Pass and participating in guided tours, in groups of up to 10 people, organized on Saturday from 3pm to 7pm and on Sunday from 10am to 6pm.
The new Sport Center, part of the architectural project created by the Japanese studio SANAA which also includes the new SDA Bocconi School of Management (which can be visited throughout the weekend) and a university residence, is spread over four main levels. In the basement there are two swimming pools, one Olympic size 50-meter and one 25-meter. The Olympic swimming pool is equipped with a grandstand accommodating 574 people. On the ground floor, there is a hall overlooking the Olympic swimming pool and the entrances to the various areas of the Sport Center, while on the first floor is the large fitness club. On the second floor is the Team Sport Arena, the home of the Bocconi sports teams. Here an area has been created with an electric retractable grandstand with 400 seats, and multifunctional courts for basketball, volleyball and 5-a-side football. Finally, on the third floor, the 220-meter indoor running track, which circles around the courts below.
With the opening of the Bocconi Sport Center, the University completes its urban campus project marked by the inauguration in 2008 of the building in via Röntgen, designed by Grafton Architects, and in 2019 of the new SDA Bocconi headquarters.