The new shopping centre Galleria Portasiena was conceived as an entrance for visitors who come to visit the city of Siena, thanks to a moving walkway which connects the city centre to the railway and bus stations.

This polyfunctional complex integrates in a single linear building public utilities and spaces intended for executive, commercial use and entertainment; in a total area of 40.000 square metres on three levels, it includes the university for foreigners and the civil engineering offices, as well as shops, a bar, restaurants, with two levels of underground parking.

From a structural point of view, particular interest is the presence of bracing elements which also support the load of the soil behind the building, which is set in the hill above the town of Siena.

Alongside this theme, SIO carried out the activity of design optimization of the elevations and of the transformation of the slabs, which originally had been planned as precast r.c. elements into two way flat slabs in reinforced concrete without beams or capitals thus improving construction times and costs.

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