The new headquarters of the joint construction bodies of the province of Perugia (Sistema Edilizia - Centro Edile per la Sicurezza a la Formazione and Cassa Edile) act as an occasion to stitch together, both typologically and figuratively, the macroscopic scale of the nearby industrial warehouses and the microscopic scale of the local single-family houses, that characterize its very heterogeneous semi-peripheral urban context.
The project aims to make a good example, basing its identity on environmental sustainability. The four synergistic strategies that nurture the project intend to give life to new habitats that can reconcile building and environment: recovering green area (by recreating a natural micro-habitat within a highly artificial area), gaining ground area (the elevation of the building reduces its physical footprint at ground level), ensuring good health (the arrangement of the building as a series of courtyards has environmental and interpersonal benefits for the user) and saving energy (a conscientious use of resources which is principally dealt with through the typological characters and the spatial conformation, and secondarily through the technical components: the metal sunscreen envelope, the small scale wind turbines, the solar thermal and photovoltaic systems all act in different but complementary ways, allow a rational consumption of energy).
In terms of layout, the new headquarters are organized across six floors, which are physically connected by two blocks of vertical access hubs and integrated psychologically by their reciprocal visibility. The basement level, houses a public car park, the semi-basement level the educational training area, the ground floor comprises an extensive green slope, the raised first floor is used for educational activities, the second raised floor is used for administration and management and the roof level which is designed as a science park. At the same time, in terms of construction, the building’s reinforced concrete structure features an iteration of bearing walls that provide visual rhythm to the building’s exterior, regulate the arrangement of the interior, and support the main block of the building. This last structure has a custom-made sun screen cladding, manufactured from composite aluminum panels which are decorated with a lattice with two perforation sizes: smaller perforations that are repeated across the entire panel to give overall visibility, and larger perforations that frame unexpected views of the landscape.
