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ArchShowcase ![]() Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination. Edifici sul fiume Oglio in Brescia, Italy by dep studioMay 5th, 2013 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: dep studio The project involved two buildings along the Oglio river separated by a rectangular courtyard. The main building is on three storeys above ground and one below, the other on two storeys above ground. Right from the start, the aim of the restoration was to simplify the appearance of a building that had undergone a series of rather haphazard conversions over the course of time.
Firstly, work was done on the decorative elements and the finishes on the facade. The elevations were decorated with string courses and openings with profiled mouldings in artificial stone dating back to the 1930s that gave the building a very heavy appearance. For this reason, the string courses were replaced with new ones with a simpler design and the window surrounds are now in thick sandstone. The same principle was applied to the balcony situated at the centre of the east elevation, the main facade of the building emphasized by the precise symmetrical layout of the openings. Columns in artificial stone were replaced by a new balustrade made from smooth metal sheet with a burnished finish, all in line with the scheme for redesigning the piazza below where a long green basin is planned, designed with the same formal rigour. A different principle meanwhile guided the work on the opposite side, that faces onto the internal courtyard and characterised by the compositional disorder created by past interventions. A decisive approach was taken to this facade that involved its complete redesign, also introducing a new view onto the river in the form of a balcony with a lightweight painted metal structure and transparent glass balustrade. In the elevation that looks onto the river the fixtures for the ground floor openings in the loggia have been replaced, set in with respect to the outside wall to make the elevation more articulated and enhance the presence of the colonnade. The work on the secondary building involved the complete redesign of the elevations on the courtyard and the street, now characterised by large openings. The new uses include a pharmacy, a private house and doctors’ surgeries in the smaller building.
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