Furnace of Riccione Rehabilitation/

Project description as provided by the Architects.

The project has the aim to minimize the environmental impact and so was privileged the substitution of existing buildings with new construction of high energy efficiency, without the occupation of additional surfaces. The purpose of design is to create simple and easily recognizable architectural volumes, standardizing forms, materials and colors, reinterpreting the historical aspects of the preexisting archaeological site in the way of the contemporary; following a process of “addition” never concluded, the project aspires to a certain continuity with history, not so much in stylistic terms, as for the compositional syntax, allowing the transformation of the use, without loss of identity. 

The project concerns the recovery of the Ex-Furnace of Riccione, an industrial complex for the production of bricks, built in 1908 and decommissioned in 1970. The old destinations give way to the new one, taking advantage of the spatial possibilities of the old buildings, which maintain their forms, the historical memory of the place: in the buildings will be located a Middle School of 18 classes, a 650-seat multi-purpose theater (not yet built) and building offices. 

We wanted to pursue, finally, the policy of energy saving using easily obtainable materials (“km 0”). The middle school consists of a volume with a plan and another, connected with this, with two floors above the ground. The project is characterized by both the restoration and enhancement of the existing brick masonry elements, and the differentiation of the new from the existing one, retaining a consistent overall composition of the intervention. Externally along the perimeter an insulating red brick color coat glass wool flows to the pillars, while the infill of the walls is entrusted to brick blocks with the cavities filled with insulating material. Inside a layer of plaster serves as a finish. The coverage will be given to the type of metal trusses (Polonceau) and a system with a double planking, insulating layer, and a mantle of cover tile type flat tile side by side, above the gym a terrace is enclosed by the system brise soleil creating uniformity with the school building. The exterior finish of the walls will be a system of brise soleil (‘brick brise soleil’ using a traditional material in an innovative form) terracotta-colored dry straw-mounted: these ensure the duotone request (with red insulation panels below), and the protection of the back coat from direct sunlight. Also, the facade fosters micro ventilation that will contribute to the insulation wall. The whole system of heating/air conditioning/production hot water is entrusted to the massive use of electrical heat pumps fed by a photovoltaic system integrated into the building envelope, supported by radiant floor heating.

Photographer: Mario Ciampi

Architect: Pietro Carlo Pellegrini

Project team: Sirio Lazzari, Carlo Bertolini, Sheila Lazzerini, Enrico Polato, Filippo Tarquini, Dario Arnone, Stefania Iurilli.

Architects in charge: Pietro Carlo Pellegrini Architetto, RCF & Partners