Design Competition: Conversion of the ‘Palazzo Cassa Mutua Artigiani’ in Brindisi into a student accomodation building.
Archistart Studio in collaboration with Eng. Vincenzo Congedo, Eng. Armando Dinoi, Eng. Verdiana Bursomanno and Geol. Stefano Margiotta have been awarded with the first place.
The proposal aims to transform the former ‘Cassa Mutua Artigiani’ Building in a sustainable housing model, a place where to find facilities, study areas, job opportunities and spaces for various activities. A new community will inhabit the building, willing to share facilities and spaces. Thanks to the strategic position of the building within the urban fabric, the building could easily bring together people within the big square in the central court.
Interior division
The project involves the arrangement of 52 beds in 24 mixed apartments, of which 22 sigle rooms, 14 doubles, 5 lodgings dedicated to people with special needs and 3 shared apartments.
The main shared areas, such as a coworking, leisure, study and meeting rooms and a small gym are located at the mezzanine floor, in communication with the square. The canteen/cafeteria will be located at the first floor facing the main road via Federico II.
Each floor is equiped with common kitchen areas and spaces dedicated to study and leisure. The lodgings are located on the top floors and are set near rooms where user can relax, study or socialize.
Exterior
The project intends to generate an innovative public space and to adopt a sustainable approach by planting local species of vegetation and to install a water square able to collect rain water to be reused.
The central square is obtained by the demolition of a portion of the building. By doing so, this big space guarantees correct luminosity and ventilation to the building, other than a different spatial quality of the structure and a more dynamic connection through the different functions.
Community Hub
The core of the project is represented by the student center located at the mezzanine floor. This has to be imagined as a community hub dedicated to students, new start ups and stakeholders that here can interact and collaborate to generate growth and job opportunities. The functional mix proposed is able to establish public and private partnerships to manage specific facilities.
The terrace on the very last floor, beside including solar panels and other systems, also involves spaces for outdoor sport activities. The use of sustainable high quality materials with a low need of long term mantainance, characterizes the whole design process of the project.
«La proposta progettuale immagina il complesso architettonico dell’Ex Cassa Mutui Artigiani come una macchina che genera valore sociale ed economico, una cerniera sociale tra l’università e la città, grazie soprattutto alla diversificazione delle funzioni: le residenze, i servizi e gli spazi di relazione con la città.»
