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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. Municipal Library of Greve in Chianti, Italy by mdu architettiFebruary 5th, 2013 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: mdu architetti The New Municipal Library of Greve in Chianti, designed by mdu architetti, represents a further step, after the opening of the New Theatre of Montalto di Castro (Italy), in a period of prolific output for this Italian architecture studio, engaged in the realization of several projects inspired by a common thread: architecture as an urban fragment. The Libray of Greve in Chianti interprets the theme, presenting itself as a light sculptural volume in terracotta leaned on a travertine stone plinth. The terracotta facade, with its subtle texturals and graphic variations, is conceived as an abstract representation of the signs and colours in the vineyards of the Chianti region.  Image Courtesy Pietro Savorelli
 Image Courtesy Pietro Savorelli
 Image Courtesy Pietro Savorelli
 Image Courtesy Pietro Savorelli 1. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The Municipal Library of Greve in Chianti, designed by mdu architetti, is located in the heart of the Chianti region, in the province of Florence, in Tuscany. The building is located at the entrance of the city in a former industrial area, near the Greve river.  Image Courtesy Pietro Savorelli The project represents the attempt to evoke and re-interpret the elements of the landscape through architecture: the Chianti region is a “mental” landscape as well as physical, an internationally well-known region that is frozen in a stereotyped icon very often.  Image Courtesy Pietro Savorelli The architecture of the new library captures the “profound” elements of the landscape and tries to catch their aesthetic essence: the parallel signs of the rows in the vineyards, that creates effects of visual vibration on the Chianti hills, are brought by the project to an abstract geometry of lines and variations of light and shade, emphasized by the use of a single matherial, the Terracotta of Impruneta.  Image Courtesy Pietro Savorelli The architectural image of the Library can be summarized in two themes: the solidity of the plinth, made of travertine blocks and the lightness of the overhanging terracotta volume. The plinth seems heavy, solid, close, but its interior opens in a wide double-height entrance foyer, characterized by a monumental bookcase that separates the entrance to other spaces dedicated to cultural activities. The upper floor is the reading room, inside the terracotta volume, that overlooks the double height void of the entrance foyer.  Image Courtesy Pietro Savorelli The intensity of the natural light and its diffusion inside the reading room is guaranteed by the external facades, characterized by a terracotta brise soleil. These facades appear enriched with slits, textures and rithms full of light and shade effects, creating a fascinating material variation. This particular architectural solution turnes the upper volume to a grand “terracotta lace” and gives it the capability to hold and to reflect the natural light following a variable rhythm, that depends both on the layering of the terracotta elements in the different facades, both according to the external atmospheric conditions.  Image Courtesy Pietro Savorelli At the sunset the terracotta volume lights from the interior revealing its delicate texture made of voids and hollows, becoming a large “lantern”, a contemporary sign in the Chianti landscape.  Image Courtesy Pietro Savorelli  Image Courtesy Pietro Savorelli  Image Courtesy Pietro Savorelli  Image Courtesy Pietro Savorelli  Image Courtesy Pietro Savorelli  Image Courtesy Pietro Savorelli  Image Courtesy mdu architetti  Image Courtesy mdu architetti
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