RESIDENTIAL TOWERS

The project is inspired by the idea of a residential quarter where residents can experience a sense of community, and where housing, commercial activity and services can coexist, finding their integration in the public space. The city enters the space through the routes within the large base that supports the two towers. This creates a new central space, dense with functions which unfold at street level and on the level of the public terraces that characterise the covering of the building’s lower part.

The base block, compact on the outside, is open on the inside with its transparent facades. This guarantees a direct view of the multiple activities required by the programme, allowing for a lively complex which at the same time can attract visitors and act as a service for the neighbourhood.

The two apartment towers interpret an idea of a contemporary habitat which satisfies individual, family and work needs. For this reason they host spaces which favour meeting and communication between the residents (multi purpose hall, games room for children, café, library and reading room). In the same way the external areas are conceived as a meeting point for the area. The two towers interpret this in different ways: the highest tower, like a totem of strong structural significance, is a high level residential building which also provides free time activities. The other, more compact and massive, has a higher residential density and consists exclusively of subsidised apartments.

The objective is to create a building complex of low emission, with reduced energy consumption using active and passive appliances.

The decision to open up the galleries towards north and south, and the large glassed surfaces towards the west, allows for the use of passive solar energy. The complex captures the sun through glass facades, as well as through solar panels that produce hot water and electricity. These are covered and are linked to the ventilation system, to retain heat and allow heating at low temperature.