As a part of a program for the conversion of an old hemp factory into a new city center for the town of Migliarino, the project gains a youth hostel out of a 510 m2 portion of the building. The site position is barycentric to the touristic circuits which take place during the summer, thanks to the proximity of the Po River Delta Natural Park, but the project has to count on a reduced regional funding, 270.000 € including the furniture, and a doubtful management profitability. Thus the management aspects, both with the energetic and economic saving, are the principal matters. The hostel is imagined as a ‘passive machine’, in which natural air fluxes are conveyed in order to obtain climatic benefits, while the systems distribution and the morphological disposition of the rooms, conceived as to minimize the utilized elements and technologies, allow an elastic hosting capacity: the highest during the spring and the summer, or in case of special events, reduced to the essential during the low seasons.
Birraria Giori is located in the centre of Ferrara at the feet of the Este Castle. Its prime location meant that it was very important to take into consideration the historical surroundings. The design was based on the principle objective of restoring the front of the bar which is part of series of arches facing the town hall, know as the “covered way”, part of the Vice-Legato palace dating back to 1877. The primary aim of the project was to “clean up” the original structure or design, stripping off the numerous additions and modifications from over the years to reveal the original form and materiality of the arch, and to provide continuation with the rest of the walkway. The gazebo remains intact, and the windows and a new second ceiling are designed around a motif that reflects the famous lantern which burns at the foot of the Este Castle. The interiors are characterised by the use of wood and stone, the shades of the plaster and the tones of the interior reflect the the equilibrium between the old and the modern. The triangular facets of the new bench seating and also the ceiling, decorated with golden flashes, are based on the rustication of the Palazzo dei Diamanti, the most important historical building of Ferrara.
At the top of a precious historical building, right in the heart of the most valuable and fascinating Ferrara, a long uninhabited flat, after a former approximate restoration carried out during the nineties, has been transformed into a contemporary domestic space.
The Parish complex of San Giacomo is proposed as a catalyst for the area in which it is introduced, creating a new fulcrum that is capable of creating identity within the local community by promo-ting socialization, education and interaction. The building is designed to have a welcoming presence that is open to the people, doing so through the use of lightweight organic architecture that contrasts with the robust and compact materiality of the historically important preexisting Ferrara.
Collaborators: AgustinaMascetti, AngelosSiampakoulis, Bárbara RuschelLorenzoni, Cj Rogers, Ernesto Lopez, Guido AybarMaino, Grant Mc Cormick, Gonzalo Peña, Irene Botas Cal, Jiyoun Park, Lauren Lochry, Lorenzo Trucato, Marta Ruiz Benito, Oscar Lopez.
Renewal and expansion of a historical residential building in the heart of Ferrara
Just a few meters from one of the most beautiful straights of the Renaissance defensive walls complex, within the compact urban structure of the historic center of Ferrara, an existing building from the early fifties reaches a bold new face through a surgery intervention of recovery and expansion.
The consolidated architectural body, growing in height in search of a spectacular view of the horizon and leaving the traditional brick cladding, changes its skin, resulting in a material standing presence, simple and rigorous, with carved openings that meet the original layout geometry.
Fields of color and tone variations, demarcated by three-dimensional carvings in the wall surfaces, stir the ingredients of the common language of urban housing, and give the elevations a taste of contemporary, while retaining the building, protected by the laws of the Architectural and Environmental Heritage Office, an elegant and austere character. A large covered balcony at the top floor, defined by a transparent wall of glass, frames the view of the walls. From the inside, rooms and spaces seem like floating among the trees.
A large green area, included between scenes and architectural settings, regenerates the fascination of the wonderful Delizie (marvelous country houses with huge gardens) of the Este Family, reinterpreting one of the urban issues perhaps more intimately rooted into the mental image that people keep of their city.
The outdoor patio of the sacred tree : Image Courtesy Tomas Ghisellini Architects
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