The new Poggio Picenze multi-aged community centre was born to replace the old structure of social aggregation, located in the historical centre and made unusable by the earthquake of April 6, 2009.


To the Administration’s appeal have promptly responded different realities including the Associazione Nazionale Cantanti, the group La Provincia Editoriale and the Salvadanaio per l’Abruzzo, while the construction company, the supplier firms and the designers are working reducing the fees.   


After a first draft of the project, which included the location of the building in the place of the concrete pitch of the city park, in 2011 the city council has situated the community centre in a neighbouring sports area near the entrance, that is replacing the earthquake logistics coordination camp.    


The design intent of the new complex is to revise the work “Grande Cretto” by Burri, built in Gibellina between 1985 and 1989, following the earthquake of Belice (1968) and realized in white concrete. The new centre aggregation maintains many characteristics of the previous project, but it also wants to convey new ones. To the desire of constructing a building respectful of to the landscape of Abruzzo, has been added the value of memory. In 2011, two years after the earthquake had taken place, a period in which the Italian civil society gradually forgot what happened in Abruzzo, the zig-zag volumes want to somehow evoke imaginary cracks, in remembrance of the earthquake occurred. At the same time, as the building is covered in wood and in green, the project aims at giving a positive value to nature, inspiring in its users a renewed confidence in it and in mankind; kids and the elderly gather together in a building integrated in the green, having the chance to nourish new hope for the future. The roof is covered with grass plots, and green are also the façades thanks to a series of coloured wires on which some vines climb, which are expected to be taken care of by the centre users.   


The Community centre is capable of hosting about 130 people from both the town of Poggio Picenze and from the neighbouring villages. The Centre is built on one level only and covers about 240 square meters (internal net surface): there are the entrance hall, two multi-purpose rooms, the library with Internet stations, one music room, and besides, services, a store room and both open and covered spaces. Externally, the walls are clad with natural larch wood, the same wood that has been used for doors and windows. The main closed volume is sided by two other open buildings for parking four-wheeled and two-wheeled vehicles, they’re made of steel structures cladded with larch wood-boards, which are also covered with coloured wires that support vines.

Project: Multi-aged community centre

building description:
use classification                    multi-aged community centre
type of work                     new building
address                        Poggio Picenze, L’Aquila, Italy

design:
project – studies                    2011
completion                    2015
client                        steering committee
                        La Provincia di Como, Sondrio, Lecco e Varese, un Salvadanaio                        per l’Abruzzo, Associazione Nazionale Italiana Cantanti, Comune di                         Poggio Picenze
design team                    Burnazzi Feltrin Architetti (Elisa Burnazzi architect)
address                         via A. Rosmini 13, 38122 Trento
website                        www.burnazzi-feltrin.it
collaborators                    Paolo Pegoretti architect, Silvia Capelli architect and Michela Corn
Works Supervisor (direttore dei lavori)        Davide Feltrin architect
structural design                    Svaldi Ingegneria (Alessandro Svaldi engineer)
heating, ventilation and air condition systems design    Svaldi Ingegneria (Roberto Svaldi engineer)
electrical system design                TESI Engineering
safety manager                    Francesco Ludrini
photography                    Carlo Baroni

structure
vertical/horizontal/sloped                reinforced concrete walls and prefabricated floor slabs

building :
construction                    2014 – 2015
net internal area (building)                230+9.5=239.5 sqm
net external area (building)            68 sqm
gross floor area                    348 sqm
lot area                        3230 sqm
Gross volume                    1531 cbm

Construction work:
construction company                 Prefgab
green roof and sheet metal work            Miani Gardens Giardini
plasterboard, facade cladding and painting        Nozza Edilizia
heating and cooling                Idroterm Romele
electrician                    Idroterm Romele
windows frames                    BG Legno
doors                        Ninz Firedoors
flooring                        Nozza Edilizia
outdoor flooring                    Italcementi Group
green areas                    Miani Gardens Giardini
furniture                        Grisoni Sistemi Didattici
products                        (tables), Drop by Infiniti (chairs), Rossini Illuminazione (lights),                         Ceramica Campani (floor), Idrodrain by Italcementi (outdoor floor),                         Millet (ropes)

sustainability:
type                        energy efficient building
energy efficiency class                B 25 [kWh/m2a]
heating system                    heat pump for winter heating
heat pump rated output                14.60 kW (A7W35)
heat/cool distribution system            floor mounted fan-coils
building envelope                    high efficiency envelope
insulation                    XPS boards
thermal transmittance U wall            U wall= 0,19 [W/m2K]
thermal transmittance U roof            U roof = 0,22 [W/m2K]
windows                        wood windows with triple low E glazing
thermal transmittance U windows             U windows= 0,90 [W/m2K]
ventilation                    mechanical ventilation (CMV) with plate heat exchanger
enthalpy recovery efficiency            efficiency > 70 %
sanitary hot water                electric water heater storage