THE GRADIENTOWER

THE GRADIENTOWER

Urban Reflection

The Shenzhen's municipality decide to implement a low-rise area with a new Masterplan of towers. This area is surrounded by mid-rise residential towers.

Within the Masterplan the eastern area is destined for office towers whereas the western one is for mixed use buildings.

The idea is to create a functional-stuck tower with houses on the lower part responding to the height of the surrounding buildings and on the higher offices according to the planned ones.

Since the modernist time the architectural market is asking for galzed towers all around the World, but this is not sustainable anymore so we decided to do not skip the market demand but to find a way to be vernacular and green.

To emphasize the quality of both spaces the glass of the building moves. It is sent back for the houses in order to create deep balconies all around the apartments that provide shades during the hot summer and a lovely outdoor space in the other periods of the year, a real extension of the indoor.

In the office part the glass is offsetted out in order to create a double-layered ventilated facade that provide a better thermal insulation. This also allows to have a better control of the quality of the light into the building.

Concept Diagrams

Pointing the sky

Silhouette

In to Out

Typical House Floorplan

Typical Office Floorplan

Concept Axo

Architect: ITA
Type: Competition 
Location: Shenzhen, China

Year: 2017 

ASTERISK

ASTERISK

Entrance

In a Swiss valley, the municipality asks for a new museum able to attract people from all around.
The shape takes the design from a polar array of a block, shaped like a pitched roof house, that creates a courtyard building. Thanks to this kind of arrangement all the functions are arranged around a circular path that allows to have a continuous way to enjoy the museum, thus entrance and exit coincide.
The pitched roof shape of each block is designed to integrate the mass of the museum in the context, made of detached country houses, also the material of the facade, corten steel, evokes the color of the surroundings.
Furthermore all the functions are located in order to have a correct sunlight, indirect for the galleries and direct for the hall and the public functions where people stay. All the galleries are located from the North-East to North-West in order to control the temperature inside them to preserve the integrity of the artistic installations. 

Diagrams

Night view

Exterior

From the galleries

Axo

Plan

Architect: ITA
Type: Competition 
Location: Arbedo-Castione, Switzerland

Year: 2016 

HOUSIDE DOWN

HOUSIDE DOWN

Exterior view

An important italian fashion company wants to create a space for catwalks in its first office.

At same time this space could be used for the exposition of their projects and products.

The request is for a new building that extends the historical office.

The place is a classical red brick villa in Tuscany surrounded by hills, trees and green.

The aim of the project is to relate the new building with the existing, using the villa as a starting point to create a new typology of architecture that it merges itself with the surrounding buildings but, at the same time, to be very iconic to reflect the quality of the company. From the shape of the existing building, the new volume starts and finishes with the same shape but upside down. This deformation allows to create a double staircase that can be used as a seats for audience and a platform for to show the products.

The corten steel panels provide the ability to integrate into the environment, with the pre-existence but at the same time differentiating itself from it.

Concept diagrams

Night view

Interior view

Daylight view

Axo 

Section 01

Catwalk/Showing Scheme

Architect: ITA
Type: Proposal  
Location: Prato, Tuscany, Italy
Year: 2016