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The project idea comes from the study of the water purification process, where the analysis laboratory plays a decisive role in the daily monitoring of the quality of the treated water. The concept is based on the relationship between the laboratory and the purification system, attempting to create a sequence of phases and different places. In civic and scientific terms, the aim is to enhance the purification process and the return of purified water to the secondary water bodies as a valuable service to improve the environmental quality of this territory.
The extension of the water analysis lab stands inside an industrial zone in southern Cremona. The surrounding area presents a complex situation where different functions coexist, holding a specific environmental and landscaping value. Along with the industrial zone, there are also a residential area and an agricultural one, which belongs to the Local Park of the Po and Morbasco rivers. According to this complexity, the project aspires to keep together these different vocations through the establishment of a tight and conscious dialogue with built and vegetal surroundings. The architectural design relates seamlessly to the existing industrial context, whose materials and features become the reference for the language that describes the new building.
The choice of the painted metal structural façade system is dictated by the fact of incorporating the new architecture within the context characterising the industrial landscape, in assonance with the existing technological bodies, which act as a reference for the materiality of the new building. At the same time, the use of this material gives the pavilion a modern character, also in conjunction with the laboratory function it takes on.
The technological solutions adopted and the materials used ensure high-performance parameters that are declined in a building in the NZEB class with very low energy consumption. Thanks to the combined contribution of a dedicated photovoltaic system and proper insulation of the building envelope, the new building reduces CO2 emissions and minimizes energetic demand and maintenance. The design choices promote reusable raw materials, the valuation and implementation of vegetative species and the use of natural lighting. According to a broader point of view, the new building promotes a sustainable approach to safeguarding water resources thanks to an educational garden with an outdoor classroom for schoolchildren to spread awareness about those themes.
Two functional blocks make up the new building and house laboratories and facilities. The building consists of a dry-assembled structure with galvanized steelwork in close dialogue with the textures of the existing technological bodies. The architectural envelope is characterized by mineral wool sandwich panels, coated by a metal cladding. A structural facade system designs the eastern and western fronts, creating a sequence of opaque metal boards and transparent glass where the views of the historic city and the industrial settlement enter into the working spaces. Indoor spaces are configured with movable partitions to optimize the analysis activities and user and visitor paths. Hung to a metal ribbed insulated panel, the exposed electrical and mechanical plants draw the ceiling and ensure rapid and frequent maintenance. The new building is conceived as a real "pavilion" in the landscape, according to an architectural typology foreign to a place distinctly characterized by an industrial vocation. The choice to adopt this iconography fulfils a dual function. The initial step is to explain its uniqueness in the context, emphasizing its representation function, entrusted to the base design, columns and large cantilevered roof. The second step is to settle in the environment with a harmonious relationship between the arboreal specimens and their surroundings, which is ensured by its horizontal design.
Maurizio Mario Ori, architect and AIAPP landscape architect, deals with research, disclosure and design in the field of systemic and experimental integration between landscape, architecture and energy in complex areas with high environmental awareness.
In 1994, with Arch. Paola Arienti, he set up O+A Ori Arienti Landscape and Architecture.
He took part in several International Competitions with other firms.
In 2013 he got the 1st prize in the design competition for the new botanical garden in Erbil (Iraq). He carried out professional work in architecture and landscape design in China, Russia and Iraq.
In 2023 he qualified in 2nd place ex aequo at the International CITY'SCAPE Award, with the project “Environmental and landscape redevelopment of the former San Rocco Landfill” in Cremona. He was also selected as part of the Rosa Barba Casanovas International Award with the project “Renewable Energy and Circular Economy Park,” which he exhibited at the Barcelona Landscape Biennial.
