University Campus of Lugano

The Lugano Campus is divided into West Campus (Via Giuseppe Buffi 13) and East Campus (Via la Santa 1).

The nucleus of the West Campus Lugano is an ancient neoclassical building – the Main Building – which originally housed the city hospital. With the growth of the University, new, modern buildings have been erected around it. The old hospital is designed by architect Giuseppe Ferla (1909). It was restored in 1993 by architect Sergio Pagnamenta. Since 1996, it has been the 'heart' of the West Campus.

Between 1999 and 2007, new buildings were added: an underground auditorium for scientific conventions, conferences and events; the three-storey Red Building with 12 new classrooms; a technology laboratory; the university library; the building housing the Faculty of Theology of Lugano; and the Black Building. In addition, an auditorium and cafeteria have been added to the main building. After more than a century of transformation, the area has been upgraded from a hospital to a modern and functional university campus.

The East Campus was inaugurated in 2021. It houses lecture rooms and offices of the Faculty of Informatics, the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, the SUPSI Department of Innovative Technologies and the Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence (IDSIA), affiliated with both USI and SUPSI.

It is an innovative infrastructure that was built as an open square and is accessible to all citizens. It also has a number of shared spaces, a multi-purpose hall, an exhibition space, a canteen, a crèche and sports areas. It hosts around 600 members of staff, 1,000 students on the basic programme and 800 students in continuing education.

The designers for this project, which is called Zenobia, are the Ticino architects Simone Tocchetti and Luca Pessina.