PROJECT

Architecture

PJ.67bis

 

  • Commission.
  • Program: Offices.
  • Site: Merate (LC), Italy.
  • Surface: Built Area 4.725 m2.
  • Budget: 3.615.000 euros.
  • Client: Municipality of Merate.
  • With: Studio Archea project-leader.
  • Chronology: 2006-2008.
  • All Design Phases.

 

The new project for the Merate Town Hall is based on supporting the existing building’s role of urban prestige, with which the new architectural structure integrates, giving it a new architectural image, creating a complex system with a new linguistic tone.

In this project, the objective is to restore a building that belongs to the city and has its own identity, coupled with the need to reinterpret and reinforce the primary role of the architectural object within the urban setting and the building fabric.

A dynamic center, a place for dialogue serving the community, the design work consists primarily in adapting the distribution of the existing structures of the municipal center and the school complex, improving the connections between the public spaces on the different levels of the newly built complex.

The design choices and criteria involved defined the interior spaces planned to accommodate new functions, such as the entrances and the vertical and horizontal distribution systems, characterized by a continuity of traffic.

The project focused on the themes of fragment and envelope. The cladding system involves a series of metal horizontal support beams attached to the vertical bearing structure.

The decorative elements, cast aluminium painted pa- nels treated with cataphoresis are applied and anchored to these beams, in 118,74x50cm modules. They have floral lace-like patterns that are positioned with holes placed on the top and bottom and fastened with bolts.

A transparent infill system completes the external envelope’s technological packet, using four types of windows, two exterior and two interior, in a sequences of glazed layers that alternate between fixed and openable elements.