POLY·LI
Graduate Degree Course in Architecture for the Old and New - 1st year (2018-2019)
Courses: Design, Analysis and Evaluation Studio & Requalification and Energy Efficiency Studio
Professors: Giovanni Marras, Daniele Baraldi, Mario Felice De Miranda, Massimo Rossetti, Lamberto Borsoi
Work Group: Chiara Meneghello, Giulia Romanato
During the first year of the Master's Degree Course, we tackled the subject of adaptive reuse. The former courthouse in the centre of Vicenza, near the Palladian Teatro Olimpico, is a brutalist concrete building from the 1960s that we had to restorate and transform into a library, in collaboration with the Biblioteca Bertoliana of Vicenza.
Firstly we analysed the site, the road system, the historical buildings around the former courthouse. Then we proceded to examine the building materials, the composition of the walls, the window frames. We came across some major issues: no insulation; not efficient window frames; the structure was not able to hold the weight of a library and it was not anti-seismic.
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We have decided to demolish the building envelope, leaving only the original concrete structure, wanting to enhance it by using policarbonate walls that allow to see the silhouette of the slabs and pillars from the outside and create a soft and diffused light from the inside. We also added a new block, completely transparent, to allow more light to enter the building.
As well as the design, we curated the structural aspects of the project, having to reinforce the slabs to bare the weight of a library; we also carried out the seismic assessment project adding concrete bracing walls; we calculated and designed the HVAC systems as well as the exhaust system; we also designed the technological aspects of the project.
 |  Existing building - West elevation |  Existing building - Concrete ribs on the first and second floor on the west side of the building |
|---|---|---|
 Site Plan 1:500 1a. Ex-Courthouse, existing building; 1b. New addition; 2. Two-storey existing park; 3. Complex of Santa Corona; 4. Palazzo Leoni Montanari; 5. Teatro Olimpico (Palladio) |  Masterplan with Floor Plan 1:200 |  First floor plan and north elevation 1:100 |
 Second floor plan and south elevation 1:100 |  |  Technological section 1:20; Detail 1:5 |
 Technological section 1:20; Detail 1:5 |  HVAC basement floor plan 1:100; Section 1:100-1:50 |  HVAC first floor plan 1:100; Toilet exhaust system and water and sanitary system 1:50; Section 1:100-1:50 |
 Scale model details 1. Handcut concrete trusses 2. Entrance slabbed ceiling |  Exhibition of the projects at the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza |