Renovation project of a modern building to new student housing

Recognizing the facades’ vertical rhythm and the peculiar morphological configuration as the main peculiarities of this modern building, the project intends to free up the fabric from further later additions.
The liberated central courtyard is demineralized and configured as a garden, that acts as a temperature control device in a context poor in green spaces. Designed in continuity and dialogue with the internal public functions, the courtyard is configured as an open and permeable space, inserting the building harmoniously within the urban system of university spaces.
A new addition changes the spatial articulation of the building and facilitates the typological innovation of the collective residence. The new architectural device, conceived as a gallery, redefines the distribution of the building and configures itself as a collective meeting space, acting as a climate control and structural device for the existing building. Relating to the original vertical rhythm, this architectural element redesigns the internal facades which are currently compromised and poorly characterized.
The intervention on the building adopts a distinguishable approach, nevertheless in dialogue with its’ existing character. By questioning the meaning of intervening on this type of building, the project reinterprets the experimental heritage of modern architecture, adapting it to the needs of contemporary living.

Client: A.D.I.S.U. Puglia
Status: Competition – Fourth prize
Team: Simona Della Rocca, Alberto Bottero, Alina Salahoru
Site: Brindisi, Italy
Year: 2022