PLP Architecture Win International Design Competition to Design Italy’s Ministry of Environment and Energy Security

Energy positive, timber framed and open to the public – Nexus Terrae is the winning proposal for the new headquarters of Italy’s Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, set in the historic EUR district of Rome. Designed as a symbol of environmental leadership, the project represents a new model for government architecture in Italy – one that embodies the nation’s environmental ambitions through transparency, innovation and civic engagement.

PLP was part of an international team, including GPA, Perillo S.R.L., Oblyk Studio, Architetto Valentini and Enser, which won the public competition to design Nexus Terrae. The building is envisioned as a manifesto for sustainable design, which embodies Italy’s environmental ambitions through innovation, transparency, and adaptability. Conceived as an energy-positive and circular building, the new MASE headquarters will become both a high-performance workplace and a civic landmark, setting the benchmark for the coming government institution.

Integrating seamlessly into EUR’s orthogonal plan and monumental scale, the design organises approximately 30,000 m² of workspace and public functions across two timber-framed volumes in cross-laminated larch (X-LAM), reinterpreting the district’s rational grid through the lens of sustainable architecture and contemporary environmental design.

The ground floor, fully open to the public, extends the landscape inward – bringing greenery deep into the building to create an immersive biophilic environment for visitors and daily users. Spaces for exhibitions, dialogue, and collaboration unfold within this vibrant setting, transforming the arrival sequence into an experience of nature, light, and civic connection.

At the heart of the project, a vertical atrium rises through the building, filled with daylight and vegetation. Within it, a series of floating boxes create suspended terraces and concentrated workspaces, offering moments of retreat and reflection while maintaining visual continuity across all levels.

Above, a panoramic rooftop terrace, shaded by a timber canopy embedded with high-efficiency photovoltaic panels, provides amenity and renewable energy generation. Together with a suite of passive environmental systems, these strategies enable the building to produce more energy than it consumes annually.

The façade unfolds as a refined composition of glass and travertine, expressing the dialogue between tradition and innovation. In daylight, it conveys solidity and permanence; at night, it becomes a softly glowing beacon, animating Viale America with a sense of civic openness.

Nexus Terrae is the latest building in PLP’s continued contribution to Italy’s urban transformation, following three major transformations in Milan including Corso Como Place, the Parco Romana masterplan, and PLP’s recently approved designs for Building Zero in the Lampugnano redevelopment plan. The building is also the most recent of PLP’s designs using architecture to champion sustainability at an institutional level, following on from the National Meteorological Center in South Korea, which will be the Korean government’s first net-zero building and a symbol of their environmental commitment.