La testa di un serpente

The head of a snake. The installation set up by architect Podrecca in Bolzano allowed me and my team to think about what I like to call the snake theme. The choice of how and where to get it started had already been made by others; after all, we are but dwarfs on the shoulders of giants. But the end? Will this snake be able to bring us an apple? The compositional principle of the project is that of a c-shaped courtyard rising from the ground gradually rising from floor to floor as it turns in on itself. Since we had to make a co-housing for the elderly, we felt it was necessary to partially close the building off to the city. Nature goes in one direction, you have to go along with it, without going against the current. The ground floor is entirely permeable by the public who can thus enjoy services and functions that dovetail with the lives of the elderly. The remaining upper floors are exclusively devoted to housing for the elderly and to common spaces placed both in the corners, drilled by trees, and in the roofs, through vegetable gardens. An important reference was the study of Lacaton & Vassal and their use of winter gardens, the Italian lemon houses of yesteryear. Despite the court closing in on itself, the rooms always face true south to maintain proper radiation.