“ARZERGRANDE RENOVATION” – CASONE AZZURRO AND NEW PAVILION
3ndy studio oversaw the conservative restructuring of the rural thatched house named “Casone Azzurro,” as well as the building of an annexed New Pavilion for tourist hospitality. The opening of the whole complex is scheduled for April 25.
The "Casone Azzurro" is an outstanding example of green building that recalls the unique rural housing typology of the pre-industrial age in the Padua Province. The Casone is made of materials found in nature: walls are made of a mix of sundried clays, dung, straw and lime, and the thatched roof is made of rye straw and reeds, requiring periodic maintenance every 20 years. Conserving the plaster of the facade of the Casone has the primary purpose of ensuring the durability of the historical building, removing the causes of decay, current and potential, that were threatening its passage through time. Operations involving plaster surfaces provide for the removal of only the products of alteration and of the non-compatible materials, which may constitute further cause of degradation over time.
Restoration works will provide treatments for disinfection and disinfestation, cleaning, consolidation, protection and plastering. Priority will be given to methods that, while achieving effectiveness, will allow the restorer to operate in a controlled, gradual and selective way to remove the products of alteration.
3ndy Studio oversaw the restoration project - recently completed - of the entire Casone and has implemented the project for the new tourist pavilion, located is in the same area. The whole complex forms a single facility, which is open to the public and offers a unique tourist experience.
The New Pavilion is inspired to the surrounding environment and adopts the shapes and colors that already exist in nature, interpreting the rural world of which the “Casone” has been a part.
The grove of reeds, which appear to the eye as a pictorial sketch of repeated vertical elements to form a dense brown-green wall, inspired the creation of the main facade, the key element of the entire building.
Technology Focus
The New Pavilion instead is a high-performing building that take advantage of the passive solar buildings, with wide windows (glazing) on the southern facing side of the building in order to absorb the sun’s heat energy to warm a building during the winter. In order to stay cool in the summer, the New Pavilion relies on a system of shading to keep the building cool, made by the Cor-ten hurdle. Sunlight was a key influence in the design process. The structure elegantly takes advantage of changing light patterns throughout the day, harnessing natural light to create a 'dynamic atmosphere' through the pavilion's Cor-ten façade. This both floods the spaces and helps shape the character of the rooms inside. Simply by building the pavilion in this way, 3ndy Studio reduce its heating and cooling costs by 75%.
Credits
Project name: Arzergrande renovation: Casone Azzurro and New Pavillion
Location of project: via San Marco n°3 - Arzergrande - Padua - Italy
Client: Comune di Arzergrande:
Year of completion: 2014
Area (square meters): 90 mq
Use: monument and pavilion - tourist use
Photos: Riccardo Spinello photographer – Padua - Italy