DO SSIE R
Rigenerazione Urbana . Urban Regeneration
Combining construction and
town planning requalification
with technological and energy
innovation by using creative,
low-cost solutions is the
ambitious goal of the Studio
Costa & Partners project,
joined by the Studio Mellano
Associati, for the innovative
social housing operation in
the Pietra Alta suburb in Turin.
The project, winner of the
competition organised by the
Public Housing Construction
Division of the city of Turin
in 2008, was started in order
to safeguard the policies of
environmental and social
sustainability by adapting to
housing models that meet
collective needs and above
all help a weaker segment of
the population. The Sharing
XVIII paesaggio urbano 3.2013
Project, Sharing Ideas and
Houses, contemplates the
recovery of a former residential
hotel for Post Office employees,
built in the 70s. The poor
state of preservation of the
building, the need to reclaim
the Eternit (fibre-cement board
containing asbestos) roofing
and bring plant and systems
up to standards led to totally
rethinking the complex through
functional reorganisation. The
building will be destined to
various forms of temporary
social housing (guest quarters,
residence, campus and hotel)
with a series of socially related,
health and commercial services
open to the inhabitants in
order to avoid the risks of a
ghetto effect. The complex,
which will be completed in
December 2010, is located in
an area of approx. 10,000 m2,
made up of two factory units
with nine floors each. Plans are
to create 180 residential units
earmarked for a social segment
in temporary housing hardship,
such as young couples,
single mothers with children,
students, people waiting for
public housing, workers on job
transfer, immigrants. A series
of support services will also be
offered, such as a mediation
centre, legal aid services,
educational and recreational
spaces for children and young
people, controlled-price
out-patient medical centres,
meeting places for cultural
activities and events, as well as
a bio-market, coffee bar and
restaurants. The architectural
requalification project by
Studio Costa & Partners,
ATP group leader along with
Studio Mellano Associati,
contemplates reworking the
austere building by using
colour that will give a new
rhythm to the façades, using
non-polluting photo-catalytic
materials that enhance the
surface and are self-cleaning,
remove air-borne polluting
particles and self-disinfect
contaminating bacteria. The
renovation of the property
also provides structural design
and engineering of major
technological innovation in
order to achieve an building
energy-efficient based on the
principles of environmental
sustainability. Environmentallyfriendly materials will be used
as well as low-maintenance,
sustainable energy
production facilities, such as
a photovoltaic solar system
for electricity production, and
a solar heating system that
will produce hot water would
complete more destined to
integrate more than 60%
of the requirements. This
extraordinary refurbishing
project will make a
significant contribution in
the requalification of Turin’s
Via Ivrea, giving life to the
city’s first social hotel and
at the same time trying to
offer welcoming, comfortable
housing solutions at accessible
prices at a time when
substantial changes are felt
in society, in life styles and in
individual and collective needs.