Project themes: Residential development composed of 16 units, area for construction on a rural terracing, stone retaining walls, modularity and variability of the building project, integrated landscape design, privacy of each residential unit, communal leisure areas, internal roads, vegetable gardens for each unit.
Stages of Processing: Concepts, Layouts , Preliminary Design.
Project team: PSC architetti & MARoffice.
General plan:
3d model:
Colors of the facades:
Elevation:
The project, located in a hilly area in La Spezia province, presents as main feature at a territorial scale its sea facing terracing.
The design area presents a difference in height of 15metres between base and top and is characterised by stone terracing.
The project starts form an aggregative concept and from the shape of the terrain, proposing a series of residential units located along a direction perpendicular to the ground’s variation.
The residential units, located side by side, create three aggregates, stepped along the sloping ground and forming a buildings’ group.
In order to enhance a varied layout, the residential units, starting from the same fixed modular width, present different depths and heights that, varying from single to double, introduce further variations to the building units.
Each unit corresponds to a residential module. The units’ combination produces two main parallel volumes, one of which is divided by a crossing.
The retaining walls limiting the external areas at each ground change in level for each unit, enhance a varied layout resulting from superimposition and staggering, typical building features in this zone.
Both the vehicular routes, along the perimeter, and the secondary pedestrian paths, inside the area, follow and model the terracing levels, encouraging permeability to movement, maintaining the privacy of each unit and favouring different points of view on the surrounding landscape.
The common spaces, such as the swimming pool and the playground, positioned at strategic locations, are also based on permeability as a key concept.
On the south side of the area, not for construction, communal vegetable gardens with related sheds are provided. These are integrated in the terracing paths and are intended for local residents use.
This approach allows a global integration of the development, trying to harmonically hide within the rural surrounding landscape.
Date: 2011.
Location: Rocchetta di Vara (La Spezia), Italy.
Dimensions: Total Area: 10000 m2, 16 Units of 1200 m2.