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LIGHTNESS AND EFFICIENCY
Antonio D’Alessandro worked with the Intera engineering practice to design this early childhood center in the new Casanova/Kaiserau district south of Bolzano in northern Italy. The L-shaped complex covers about 2,100 sq.m, with a kindergarten and a crèche for 128 children aged 6 months to 6 years. The three-story building starts from a concrete basement level for a garage, utility rooms, storage space, kitchen and locker rooms. A lighter, wooden structure rises above this, housing the crèche for the younger children and the kindergarten (with two and four sections respectively) along with a multi-purpose room, offices and bathrooms. The wooden frame for the two above-ground floors was created by Damiani-Holz&KO, best known for its LignoAlp brand. It consists of a series of sheer and load-bearing walls to carry the vertical and lateral loads (wind and tremors). The design team had to work within the constraints of both the existing constructions and the regulatory requirements (e.g. the above-ground silhouette alignment, building volume restrictions, entrance points and access routes for pedestrians and emergency services). One of the solutions was to use X-lam panels for the building system, as these have numerous advantages. Using wood speeded up the building process, cut material waste and guaranteed traceability. Once the final plans had been drafted and the wood cut, assembly could be done directly on site, quickly without compromising on end quality. This was key to meeting the bio-climatic and environmental sustainability requirements needed to balance nature and built environment. The CasaClima A and CasaClima school certification are proof this was successfully achieved.
LignoAlp
Via Julius Durst, 68 - I - 39042 Bressanone (BZ)
Tel +39 0472 975790 - Fax +39 0472 975791
E-mail: info@lignoalp.it - www.lignoalp.it
