Dap Studio & Paola Giaconia_Cultural Center

ASthought #24

project: architect:

Cultural Centre / Dap Studio & Paola Giaconia

book editor:

Niki Georgiou

project: architect:

Cultural Centre / Dap Studio & Paola Giaconia

ASthought #24

AsThoughtarchitecture from concept to built form

Our main goal is to describe the design process, the architectural solutions and the detailing choices of a built work in a chronological order. The dream – that is also the ambition – is to tune at the best the structure of this on-line manual and to spread around its template in order to amplify the power of collecting and publishing in a such huge way that in a few years we could arrive at the largest open source and most browsed utility for architectural students not only in Europe.

series editors:Gennaro PostiglioneMaddalena Scarzellaresearch team in Interiors @ Politecnico di Milano/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

ASthought architecture from concept to built form

http://asthought.polimi-cooperation.org

follow https://twitter.com/ASthought1 http://vimeo.com/asthought http://www.issuu.com/asthought

book editor:

Niki Georgiou

All rights reserved © All AuthorsAll drawings © Dap Studio All renders and construction site pictures © Dap StudioAll pictures © Authorsthis volume has no commercial purposes but only educational goals

Milan 2013

Content

Work facts p. 6-7

Project description p. 8-11

Commission p. 12-15

Draft proposals p. 16-23

Final proposal p. 24-35

Models p. 36-43

Construction drawings p. 44-51

Building site p. 52-59

Photo gallery exteriors p. 60-69

Photo gallery interiors p. 70-81

Photo gallery surroundings p. 82-85

Selected essay p. 86-89

Appendix

office presentation p. 90-93

book editor presentation p. 94

6 ASthought

Work facts

7Cultural Centre - Dap Studio/Giaconia

Project: Cultural Centre

Address: Passagio sciopero di Rnica, 24020, BG Ranica, Italy

Area: 2.240 m²

Type: Mixed-use civic centre

Planned: 2006 – 2010

Built: 2007-2010

Client: Ranica Municipality

Architect: Dap Studio / Paola Giaconia

Responsible partners: Pasquale Gallo, Alessia Mosci, Laura Tagliabue, Paolo Vimercati

Structural engineer: D.Arrigoni

Awards: OAB Awards 2011, Best Public Work 2000-2010

References: http://www.dapstudio.com/include/progetto.php?lang=it&pjid=00006

Project description: Cultural Centre - DAP Studio&Paola Giaconia

History of Commission: Ranica, a small medieval town in the outskirts of Bergamo, Italy, can now enjoy a piece of

contemporary architecture: the new Cultural Center In a moment of weakness and

vulnerability for the state of culture in Italy, Ranica responds to the situation by opening

this new building, devoted to education, to community, and to intellectual energy.

Main architectural ideas: The building, located between the historical nucleus of the town and the area of urban growth,

is the physical hinge of the resulting urban structure. With its sharp and pristine image and

soft color nuances alternative to the surroundin buildings, the Cultural Center stirs the

urban landscape aesthetically and winks at the silvery shimmers of nearby mountains.

The building is made of two volumes, one laid on top of the other, centering on an

interior countryard capturing natural light and attracting pedestrians. It hosts a new

“piazza”, a new meeting point for the citiziens, maintains harmony with the

surrounding landscape. The lower volume is transparent, revealing the activities and

stirring their curiosity instead of the upper volume sits on its top and become a signal.

Project description


Ranica, a small medieval town in the outskirts of Bergamo, Italy, can now enjoy a piece of contemporary architecture: the new Cultural

Center by DAP studio and Paola Giaconia. In a moment of weakness and vulnerability for the state of culture in Italy, Ranica responds

to the situation by opening this new building, devoted to education, to community, and to intellectual energy.

The Cultural Center -which opened to the public in the spring of 2010 and contains a public library, an auditorium, a kindergarten,

and a school for dance and theater- substantiates the effective synergy between the public administration of this small town in

Northern Italy and the architects. The project is a manifestation of optimism in the current controversial system of Italian public works.

On January 22, 2011, the project was awarded first prize by the Institute of Architects in Bergamo as the best building in Bergamo and

in its province in the last ten years. The jury, chaired by Swiss architect Aurelio Galfetti, selected the project for the new Cultural

Center in Ranica as the Best Public Building. Ranica, January 23, 2011 - The city of Ranica, in the province of Bergamo, Italy,

inaugurates its new Cultural Center. The project, designed by DAP studio and Paola Giaconia, is the outcome of a competition launched

by the Municipality of Ranica in 2005 to endow the town with an important institution that would augment its cultural and social life.

The recently opened cultural center was completed in less than two years of construction, and represents a new cultural and urbanistic

beacon in the territory, laying the foundations for an alternative urban organization. Thanks to this new building, the medieval town is

able to revitalize its historical urban fabric by fastening it to a new contemporary hub, capable of nourishing the surrounding territory.

In its devotion to culture and cultural enrichment, the institution plays a fundamental role in defining the spaces for the community.

“The Cultural Center is conceived as a new catalyst of urban life. Not only is the building a laboratory for education and information,

but it also becomes a new “piazza” where people can meet and where citizens can reinforce their sense of belonging to their territory,”

the architects explain. The building, located between the historical nucleus of the town and the area of urban growth, is the physical

hinge of the resulting urban structure. With its sharp and pristine image and soft color nuances alternative to the surrounding

buildings, the Cultural Center stirs the urban landscape aesthetically and winks at the silvery shimmers of the nearby mountains and

at the warm shades of dawn or sunset. “The “piazza” has always been defined in history by the physical and visual limits of the buildings

that surround it. With our project -the architects say- we wanted to blur the sharp distinction between solid and void. We opened up

the building to the city and welcomed pedestrian flows up to its very core.”

The building -housing a public library, an auditorium, a kindergarten, and a school for dance and theater- is made

of two volumes, one laid on top of the other, centering on an interior courtyard capturing natural light and attracting

pedestrians. The building hosts a new “piazza”, a new meeting point for citizens. In this sense, the project for the new Cultural Center

reconceives the ground. Begining at grade, the building establishes new links with the city and makes its presence felt as it rises two

floors above the ground. It maintains harmony with the surrounding landscape, which inspired its design, through predominantly

horizontal lines at the floor and ceiling planes of each volume. The lower volume is transparent, revealing the activities which take

place inside to passerby, stirring their curiosity. The upper volume sits on its top and becomes an urban signal. Its translucent

polycarbonate sheets glow with vibrant tints and allow the silhouettes of people to been through the colorful watery facade.

10 ASthought


Commission

On the previous page:

Facade of the building


South-west side of the site

14 ASthought

North-east side of the site


North-east side of the site

Draft proposals

Exterior 3D view


Relation with the urban

Analysis of urban density and plant

Relation with the nature

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Main axes of the site

Relation with the roads


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Density of the inhabitants during the day

Modelling of the volumes


Diagrammes of the site analysis

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Sketches


Progress of model

Final proposal


siteplan

26 ASthought

Ground plan


1st floor plan

28 ASthought

North-west elevation


North-west elevation

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South-west elevation


South-west elevation

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North-east elevation


South-east elevation

34 ASthought

Section AA’


Section BB’

Models


Upper level interior 3D modeling

38 ASthought

3D view of main staircase


3D view of upper level

40 ASthought

Interior 3D view from the lower level


Interior 3D view from the upper level

42 ASthought

Exterior 3D view


Exterior 3D view

Construction drawings


46 ASthought

Detail of attic floor(with crawl system)


Detail of attic floor(above the basement)

48 ASthought

Detail of the exterior projection of the upper volume


images

Detail of the exterior projection of the upper volume

50 ASthought

Detail of the polycarbonate surface of the

building


Polycarbonate panels

Building site


Exterior skeleton of the construction

54 ASthought

Interior construction


Intermediate space construction

56 ASthought

Interior construction


Exterior construction

58 ASthought

Exterior construction of the ramp


Exterior construction

Photo gallery exteriors


Atrium

62 ASthought


This page:

Intermediate space

On the left:

Exterior path

64 ASthought


On the left page above:

Relation between the pedestrian path and the exterior path

On the left page below:

Main entrance from the pedestrian side

66 ASthought

Relation with the intermediate space and open space


Gallery

68 ASthought

Opening day


Main entrance of the building

Photo gallery interiors


Interior urban landscape

72 ASthought

Relation of the two levels

images


images

74 ASthought


This page:

Top view from the main staircase


Relation between the kinder library and first floor


Panoramic view of the interior

76 ASthought



Relation between conference hall and atrium


Relation between library and atrium

78 ASthought

This page:

Main staircase

On the right page above:

Corridor of the library_materiality

On the right page below:

Exhibition wall of the library


80 ASthought


This page:

Reading place for teenagers


Plaster elements of the library


Photo gallery surroundings


Relation with the pedestrian

84 ASthought

This page:

Relation with the square and the buildings

On the right page above:

Relation with the main road

On the right page below:

Relation with the square


Selected essay


Gold Medal for italian architecture 2012

88 ASthought

Gold Medal for Architecture 2012


Gold Medal for Architecture 2012

appendix

office presentation

Paolo Danelli was born in Milan on 28 06 1963. He graduated in 1989 at the faculty of Architecture-Politecnico in Milan. After some years

of collaboration with DA Center, in 1992 he set up the DAP studio practise with Elena Sacco.

Elena Sacco was born in Canelli (At) on 09 03 1965. She graduated in 1990 at the faculty of Architecture-Politecnico in Milan and she ob-

tained the master’s degree “Promotion and improvement of cultural and territorial resources”. She lives and works in Milan as Dap studio

associate architect.

DAP studio is an architectural practice based in Milan from 1992, is hold by Elena Sacco and Paolo Danelli, both graduated at the faculty

of Architecture-Politecnico in Milan.

The office works for private customers as well as for public bodies and takes part to competitions.

Researches and activities are carried out at different scales thanks to a multidisciplinary and flexible team structure, able to adapt to the

multiple aspects of each project. The work carried out by the studio has so far faced many different aspects of architecture and urbanism:

town planning, residential housing, office buildings, leisure and entertainment, landscape architecture...

Their approach to design is based on a constant analysis and control of the relations set by the project and its program. Architecture mani-

fests itself through a continuous process of sperimentation and discovery.

DAP studio places the architectural planning and the development of plans and cultural systems side by side.

Thanks to the synergy with this particular planning sphere, the studio can develop very detailed feasibility studies and preliminary pro-

grams for the architectural planning and the masterplan definition.

Paolo Danelli was born in Milan on 28 06 1963. He graduated in 1989 at the faculty of Architecture-Politecnico in Milan. After some years

of collaboration with DA Center, in 1992 he set up the DAP studio practise with Elena Sacco.

Elena Sacco was born in Canelli (At) on 09 03 1965. She graduated in 1990 at the faculty of Architecture-Politecnico in Milan and she ob-

tained the master’s degree “Promotion and improvement of cultural and territorial resources”. She lives and works in Milan as Dap studio

associate architect.

My name is Niki Georgiou and i was born on 1991 in Nicosia, which is the capital of Cyprus. I’m attending the fourth year of University of

Cyprus but i’m currently undertaking a student exchange at Politecnico di Milano. I am interested in many facts of Architecture, spesifi-

cally the part of sustainable Arhitecture. I am also interested in the relation which created between the buildind and the nature.

“ Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will “

book editor presentation

Work facts

Project: Cultural Centre

Address: Passagio sciopero di Rnica, 24020, BG Ranica, Italy

Area: 2.240 m²

Type: Mixed-use civic centre

Planned: 2006 – 2010

Built: 2007-2010

Client: Ranica Municipality

Architect: Dap Studio / Paola Giaconia

Reasponsible partners: Pasquale Gallo, Alessia Mosci, Laura Tagliabue, Paolo Vimercati

Structural engineer: D.Arrigoni

References: http://www.dapstudio.com/include/progetto.php?lang=it&pjid=00006

Project description: Cultural Centre - DAP Studio&Paola Giaconia

History of Commission: Ranica, a small medieval town in the outskirts of Bergamo, Italy, can now enjoy a piece of

contemporary architecture: the new Cultural Center by DAP Studio and Paola Giaconia. In a

moment of weakness and vulnerability for the state of culture in Italy, Ranica responds to

the situation by opening this new building, devoted to education, to community, and to

intellectual energy

Main architectural ideas: The building, located between the historical nucleus of the town and the area of

urban growth, is the physical hinge of the resulting urban structure. With its sharp and

pristine image and soft color nuances alternative to the surroundin buildings, the

Cultural Center stirs the urban landscape aesthetically and winks at the silvery shimmers

of nearby mountains.

Documents

Dap Studio & Paola Giaconia_Cultural Center