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Canvas of PLANS & DRAWINGS
Ligurian culture of building and comfort living in Albòra by Frigerio Design Group
- Stella Manferdini
- Canvas of PLANS & DRAWINGS
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The district of Albaro is an elegant residential area in the east of Genoa, where historical villas, modern buildings and modest fishermen’s houses describe an outline of architecture and real-life stories. In this very territory sits the residential project Albòra by Frigerio Design Group, the Genoa-based studio that since 1991 continues the practice of “slow-architecture” and supports a way of designing sensitive to the culture of the place. These elements are immediately evident in Albòra, a project that draws on the materials, nature and Ligurian culture of building.
These are prestigious dwellings of new construction immersed in the green of an elegant city space that will soon become a point of reference as well as an eloquent example of a new way of thinking the house through the concept of Comfort Living. Regarding the imagery with which the design of the project establishes a virtuous dialogue, the inspiring elements are the Ligurian dry stone wall and the cultivated strip. The latter is reinterpreted in facades characterized by elegant stone slabs, while the green areas and terraces are found in the form of green roofs and gardens.
Albòra, Genoa, Italy, Frigerio Design Group - Image copyright: ©Frigerio Design Group
The construction of the area has seen as necessary some measures due to the criticality of the lot in which it is inserted. On the east and west borders there were in fact two historic patrician villas, the area was already densely built and on the north side, the only one from which access could take place, there was a significant altimetric difference. In order to minimize the environmental impact it was therefore essential to establish a dialogue with the seventeenth-century architecture of the existing villas and with the green territory. The solution that was finally put in place was that of inserting the volume of the building in the profile of the land and creating a trait d'union with it through the green element that from the roof is distributed on the different levels.
The complex thus consists of volumes that from the mountain slope down towards the sea to resolve themselves into large terraces. Here, large openings and extended horizontal sunshades lighten the building optimizing the natural exposure. In its totality, the complex extends for an area of about 2,000 square meters and a height of three floors, articulated in a volume that runs parallel or perpendicular to the curves of the ground. With its gentle geometries and warm colours, the architecture thus conceived fits into the context, between the historic villas and the secular parks, acting as a modern counterpoint.
Albòra, Genoa, Italy, Frigerio Design Group - Image copyright: ©Frigerio Design Group
The conception of the project does not comply with the semantics of closure, but rather opens to the history of the place while maintaining the intimacy of the interiors. These have been designed in continuity with the exterior, so as to enlarge the spaces and open them to new dimensions. At the heart of the project lies the concept of Comfort Living. Therefore, the spaces are all endowed with large dimensions and adaptability to different functions. Each area also enjoys a private outdoor area overlooking the panorama.
The aesthetic comfort, which is achieved through colours, sartorial materials and carefully chosen finishes, is combined with the sensory comfort of the interior and an energy strategy that combines active and passive bioclimatic systems. The ventilated façade, in addition to optimizing the thermal efficiency, also solves the problem of ventilations that risked damaging the gardens on the roof. The roof garden is thus a green space that performs several functions beyond its fruition, that is, the thermal and acoustic ones. These measures made it possible to have 80% of the surface covered in greenery.
Albòra, Genoa, Italy, Frigerio Design Group - Image copyright: ©Frigerio Design Group
For the green area was used only native Ligurian flora, thus consisting of plants of rosemary, lavender, broom or pittosporum and not trees that would not flourish independently. Finally, on the south side, where large terraces and windows can be found, the green element is completed by planters. In its essence, Albòra is a refuge in the green, refined in materials, modern in the application of the latest technologies and yet perfectly cohesive to the history of the neighborhood and its city.
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