“The low-cost, low-impact dream home” describes in a nutshell the economic, environment and social prerequisites underpinning “The 100K € Home” (a home for 100.000 Euros) research project. As well as allowing homeowners to express their different identities and lifestyles, each apartment is a “bio-climatic” machine thanks to the passive and active strategies employed. “The only thing that’s preordained in the building is the outer frame”, explains Mario Cucinella. “All the interior spaces can be arranged as required. The exterior becomes a social space providing a series of communal facilities like bicycle-access ramps, laundries and urban furniture”.
The architectural and environment programme brings together form, optimal building orientation, alternating solids and voids, an outer envelope, cantilevers, communal terraces, and active and passive heating and cooling strategies, including photovoltaic cells that are part of the roof. The standard building isa a residential block whose 7.5x12 m grid contains 22 different-size apartments over 4 aboveground levels.
Dwelling units can be simplex or duplex with an external loggia or terrace, private access or an entrance from the communal terrace. A compact north façade contrasts with a variegated, open south-facing front. All apartments give onto two sides of the building thus ensuring cooling through-draughts. The larger expanses of glazing on the south façade let in more light during the winter while an operable sun-shading system and the jutting terraces afford protection from solar glare and heat in the summer. Planted terraces become roof gardens that create a microclimate contributing to passive cooling.
The interiors are a large open space partitioned to suit specific needs. Photovoltaic-generated electricity will be sufficient to cover all the building’s requirements and operate the heat pump linked to either a geothermal or underground water system, depending on the location. Any surplus...
Digital
Subscription
New Acropolis Museum
Bernard Tschumi Architects
The New Acropolis Museum is an intelligent building. Rational, unadorned, didactic, experiential, it’s a major achievement by Bernard Tschumi, the S...Pearl Academy of Fashion
Morphogenesis
Around the world, architects are challenged to infuse new forms with the legacy of the past and the spirit of place. That has become a crucial issue i...Piergiorgio Semerano
Toti Semerano
Piergiorgio Semerano was born in 1941. He graduated from Venice University under Giancarlo De Carlo, and worked with him for a certain time. He was al...