UNIPOL TOWER (Bologna, Italy)

Unipol Tower, is skyscraper located at Via Larga in Bologna, Italy. Rising to a height of approximately 127 metres (417 ft), and composed by 33 floors triangular-shaped, the building serve as the new headquarters of Unipol Bank includes office and retail space in its 13.000 square meter (140.000 sq ft) of floor area. The construction was completed in 2012. The main project includes a mall with fitness centre, a movie theatre and a luxury hotel, currently under construction.

Designed by architectural firm OpenProject of Bologna Unipol Tower incorporates various environmental innovations that achieved the prestigious (LEED) gold certification. The building is the tallest construction in Bologna and currently the 9th in Italy.

The tower has five internal elevators, one hoist, and its engineering plant is integrated with the façade system so that each floor is independent by the others. The model (1:350 geometrically scaled) is PVC made to simultaneously guarantee an adequate stiffness and lightness, so to avoid disturbs during wind-tunnel measurements due to its natural frequency of vibrations. The mere tower model is hollow and is equipped with 125 pressure taps.

Wind tunnel tests were carried out to assess the pressure fields on the façade system and the total aerodynamic forces at the base.