Faenza research center

An ecological screen mediates the transition between nature and architecture in the project, which constitutes the first phase of the multipurpose “Evangelista Torricelli Arts and Science Park”. The incubator is intended to accommodate the research activities conducted by the university of Faenza in collaboration with the CNR into new technologies of ceramics and their possible applications. The design of this first lot was awarded to Camerana through a public competition and on the basis of a preliminary project developed previously by the architect Boris Podrecca, who planned an arcaded route as a unifying element of the whole intervention. The large monumental portico proposed by the Viennese-trained architect is transformed by Camerana into an unusual architectural sign which, in line with the spirit of the science and technology park, derives its form from the search for an ecological and sustainable functionality: an ecological screen consisting of large laminated wood uprights and a web of aluminium sunscreens, which become photovoltaic in the last two bays. Curved and slanting in relation to the building, the screen is intended to be a public passage sheltered from sun and rain , and at the same time to constitute a vertical continuation of the park, a sort of large frame up which plants can climb, an “abstract and technological nature” which collaborates with the environment. Behind the screen/arcade, the actual building is fragmented into three volumes with different functions, connected by completely glass-covered linking spaces which house the suspended staircases. Each volume consists of four laboratories on the ground floor, offices on the upper floor and an accessible terrace-garden. The elevations facing the portico are insulation-plastered , while those facing north are insulating ventilated facades faced with slabs in terracotta-coloured ceramic stoneware, an allusion to the local building tradition in a contemporary material. The regular arrangement of the windows and the setback of the frames from the line of the facade forms part of a compositional choice which means that on the outside the presence of just two storeys is not evident, so conferring a relatively monumental character on the building.

credit

Project: Benedetto Camerana; with Politecnica (agent)
Consultants: Stefano Dotta – Environment Park SpA (energy); Enser (structures)
Functions: Business incubator with offices, research laboratories, park
Customer: Municipality of Faenza
Procedure: Design competition, first place
Chronology: Preliminary project (2005), final and executive (2006), construction (2007-2009)
Contributors: Alessandro Rigazio, Claude Balthasart, Eugenia Comparetto, Hermann Kohllöffel, Catherine Thiemann, Alessia Venturini
Dimensional area: 3000 square meters
Building cost: € 4,500,000.00
Photo credits: Alessandro Ciampi, Alberto Piovano