Residence Du Parc

This is a radical technological updating of the Modern in continuity with the values of the original design, a critical restoration project on the facades of the residence built in 1971 by Corrado Levi and Laura Petrazzini next to Turin’s Expo site. An unusual residential typology in the Italian context of the 1970s, distant from the local or European archetypes of housing in the period, partly because of its formal and constructional vocabulary. An architecture which, like the American skyscrapers of Mies van der Rohe, develops in accordance with a modular composition and uses reinforced concrete, glass and steel. The building is organized on a perpendicular grid based on a square module measuring 90 cm which, tilted vertically, determines the composition of the facade. This is defined as a superimposition of levels in which the primary element consists of the concrete load-bearing walls which rise like rostra. On these rest the string courses, the metal uprights and the glass parapets. Built before the oil crisis, the residence required suitable alterations to solve the problems of insulation, the progressive decay of the strip windows and the trim and to improve the acoustics.
When the owner of the property decided to refurbish the facades, it was decided to apply to an architect, and not to a maintenance firm, so as to avoid a possible loss of value due to the work. The overall management of the design and building work was entrusted to Camerana who, after a meeting with Corrado Levi, devised a key of interpretation to adapt the building to the new technologies while respecting the original idea.
The intervention entailed the dismantling of the panels on the facade and the glass parapets, restoration of the concrete surfaces and the installation of new elements with the introduction of subtle alterations. It retained the design defined by the uprights, which originally had a load.-bearing function, replacing them with more dynamic profiles with circular sections, to confer lightness and vibrancy in the light.
For the same reason, the original string course, with a box profile made by extrusion, was replaced by a thin bent metal sheet. Special care was taken to retain unchanged the dimensions of the window frames and avoid having the panes of the strip windows acquire a green tone, typical of the increased thicknesses required by the new acoustic and technical regulations. The transparent glass parapets were replicated as well as the original Venetian blinds inside. The work was carried out piecemeal, intervening on independent segments of the facade, so enabling the residence to remain open for guests at all times.

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