Hands over the city
Academic project
Collaboration
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The explicit reference to “Hands over the city”, a film that denounces corruption and building speculation in Italy in the 60’s, is determined by the will to reiterate the programmatic spirit of this project which wants to assume a sustainable development perspective through the analysis of new intervention models. The city is considered today a source of problems and critical issues but can become an opportunity to address and solve them. The proposed activity was the opportunity to elaborate a framework of strategies and investigating the hypotheses of urban transformation “by layers”: instead of new city expansions or buildings demolitions and reconstructions, we tested the possibility to act for moderate overlapping of volumes and activities over existing buildings.
The project area is located in the western suburbs of Turin and includes a complex of 8 residential buildings. Above the spacious roofs of the complex have been proposed various activities such as residential units, smartworking, garden meets and art workshops, observing the energy sustainability, the space optimization and the life quality.
The buildings used for central residences measures 55 x 11,4 meters, the roof expansion is characterized by 8 modules: seven are residential and one contains the common laundry and the heat control units. Each module is made by assembling prefabricated xlam panels and are spreaded in two floors. each house has a private hanging garden which is accessed by a common path on the long side of the building.The building below underwent a restyling operation, proposing neutral white facades in contrast with the new expansion. The two parts are visually and functionally connected by the old staircase that now emerges from the roof to reach the modules. The roofs are single-pitched for promote exposure to solar radiation and the panels positioning.
The perimeter buildings are used for public use functions as “smart working” offices, garden meets or artistic laboratories. One of the four public-type of intervention building host the smart working offices that are not only a physical place, but an establishing of a community, characterized by open space offices that encourage team work and collaboration.
The building facades are very transparent and provide natural lighting to work, offer an interesting view to the city. The south facade is characterized by a system of horizontal brise soleil to shield the direct sunlight, the serpentine inside the second floor generates interiors and create double-height spaces and other rooms. The sinuous figure is revealed on the outside opening oval windows on the roof top and break the south side brise soleil. This shape goes down with the twisted staircase that penetrates and exits the facade to the ground.
