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To return this uninhabited residential building in Via Otricoli, Rome, to the community with a fresh, modern, and green appearance, sustainability, innovation, energy performance, and aesthetics were priorities. The developers behind the project, Frimm Real Estate Investing, entrusted architect Giulia Catinello with the retrofit.
The building had 34 units, ranging from two to four bedrooms. With the building design reflecting the slope of its site, this was left unchanged. The apartments themselves, however, were modernized, with new finishes and flooring. Marazzi supplied the porcelain surfaces and the building’s new porcelain stoneware ventilated façades.
“From the outset, attention to the building’s energy performance was a cornerstone of the project, which was to return this uninhabited building to the city,” explained architect Catinello. Work to optimize energy performance began with looking at the building’s orientation. “The main façades face east-west,” continued Catinello, “while the secondary façades face north-south. This means that all the apartments get direct sunlight for at least half the day. Following the shape of the site, the front of the building tapers slightly, while the back elevation is square.”
The project’s goal, therefore, was to respect the building’s original massing, while focusing on its shell and restoring its identity. “We opted to create ventilated façades around the volume,” continued Catinello, “to optimize heat dispersion and the performance of the building’s systems.”
The walls have a multi-layered structure that enables continuous natural ventilation to take place across the façade while eliminating excess levels of humidity. Its design therefore contributes to summer cooling and minimizing heat loss in winter.
The ventilated façades create a harmonious and coherent image within the building’s setting. Their cladding is Marazzi’s 60x120 cm Mystone Travertino porcelain stoneware with a stone-effect and in the soft Navona shade. Marazzi’s brief for the products was to recreate the solidity and strength of ancient stone. This gave life to the very contemporary looks of the Mystone Travertino stoneware line. The collection combines high-definition digital printing, micro-combinations of gloss and matte shades, and precision manufacturing techniques that define the multiple textures of the surfaces. Colors and structures merge in the texture of the travertine surfaces, reflecting the typical porosity of the ancient material.
It’s possible to further enhance the performance of the Mystone Travertino range with Marazzi’s premium technologies. These include StepWise, a finish with a soft touch and excellent slip resistance; High Performance, for surfaces that need to meet the highest international standards; and Sublime Sync, a high-definition product that matches digital printing with the structure of the material to produce unprecedented surface quality and realism.
Finally, the Taupe shade of the Mystone Limestone porcelain stoneware collection, in the sizes 60x60 and 30x30 cm, was used for the floors. With its structured surface and 20 mm thickness, the product is also suitable for outdoor applications, making it possible to create a seamless flow between indoor and outdoor spaces.
More info: www.marazzitile.co.uk
Location: Rome, Italy
Architect: Giulia Catinello
Contractor: Frimm Real Estate Investing
Suppliers: Marazzi
Photography by Francesco Vignali, courtesy of Marazzi
