convention centre and exhibition space
trieste, italy
2020
IMAGES BY METROAREA
The Generali Convention Center Trieste is today the largest multi-purpose seafront convention centre in north-eastern Italy. It is the first major project completed in Trieste’s Porto Vecchio, turning two abandoned industrial warehouses into a convention and exhibition hub of international standing — an idea that came about almost by chance, while the practice was working with engineer Pierpaolo Ferrante on the ESOF competition: it was there that the intuition of making it something permanent first took shape.
The context: Trieste’s Porto Vecchio
The Porto Vecchio is an architectural heritage of extraordinary historical and artistic value: some 600,000 sqm in the heart of Trieste, built from the late nineteenth century onwards as a logistics hub of the Habsburg Empire. Its warehouses — the Lagerhäuser — bear witness to a moment of constructional and maritime transition of rare quality, with façades alternating pilaster strips and string courses, grey cast-iron columns and craftsman stonework. A context that requires the designer to produce contemporary architecture without competing with history, but engaging in dialogue with it.
The project
The commission arose from an open public procedure of EU relevance, following the declaration of public interest by Trieste City Council (resolution no. 20, May 2018). The aim was to give the city back a permanent venue for conference and exhibition activities, filling the gap left by the closure of the Fiera Campionaria and enhancing the tourist and scientific vocation of Trieste — a city that in 2020 hosted ESOF, the EuroScience Open Forum.
The project involved three structures: Magazzino 27, Magazzino 28 (both precast concrete buildings from the 1980s and 1990s) and a new extension volume, Magazzino 28/1, built as a continuation of Magazzino 28 on the seaward side. The three buildings are joined by a connecting bridge and flanked by a car park serving the complex.
The choice of language
The central design issue was the relationship with the historical context. Magazzini 27 and 28, although protected within the framework of the Porto Vecchio regeneration, are industrial buildings from the 1980s and 1990s, alien to the character of the surrounding nineteenth-century constructions. The choice was neither to imitate history nor to ignore it: the two existing warehouses are clad in anthracite grey painted aluminium sandwich panels, a contemporary, durable material, compatible with the marine environment and of restrained visual impact.
The new volume of the Conference Hall (Magazzino 28/1) adopts the same vocabulary, allowing the whole complex to speak with a single voice, discreet and solid, letting the surrounding historic buildings — the Centrale Idrodinamica, the Sottostazione Elettrica — stand out in the port landscape.
Spaces and flexibility
Magazzino 27 houses the centre’s main entrance, offices, cloakroom and four conference rooms (from 56 to 272 seats), as well as a large open-plan exhibition area. Magazzino 28, with its 3,400 sqm, incorporates the 420-seat hall, a fully equipped catering area and further exhibition spaces.
The new Magazzino 28/1 is the centrepiece of the complex: a large 1,692 sqm multi-purpose hall designed to accommodate up to 1,920 delegates, with a precast concrete structure, geometrically patterned walls and a glazed foyer overlooking the sea that also serves as a panoramic entrance. The stage, measuring 20×4 metres, is conceived for maximum flexibility: plenary conferences, trade fairs, cultural and sporting events. An internal connecting bridge, fitted with four lifts, ensures accessibility and continuity between the pavilions.
Total floor area – 10,000 sqm
Main auditorium – 1,920 seats
Conference rooms – 6 rooms
Total seating – 6,000+
Sustainability and technology
The project involved a significant change of use: structures with no insulation, designed for industrial purposes, have become air-conditioned spaces with code-compliant energy performance. The new sandwich panel envelope provides thermal insulation; the roof has been completely waterproofed and insulated. The building is today one of the very few Italian convention centres connected to the GARR network — the ultra-broadband fibre of research and education centres — and features photovoltaic panels on the façade. The centre is fully accessible to people with reduced mobility.
A growing success
A few years after opening, the Generali Convention Center Trieste has confirmed the soundness of the design and management choices. In 2025 it hosted 93 events, with a room occupancy rate of 65% — almost double the national sector average — and over 80,000 attendances. The centre has become a permanent venue for scientific congresses, institutional events and international trade fairs, confirming the role the project had assigned to it: a catalyst for the rebirth of the Porto Vecchio and for Trieste’s international positioning.
