Amidst the industrial city of Turin, Italy, a unique residential apartment is built around trees and greenery, breathing new life to urban living.
Text by Isabelle Pinto |
Photography by Beppe Giardino
If you are familiar with the infamous classic Disney animation “Peter Pan”, you would know that this fictional character who never wanted to grow up lived with his band of “lost boys” in a playful-looking tree house in the imaginary land of Neverland. A rather fictitious concept, their house was literally a tree with a number of man-sized, or rather “boy-sized” holes scattered around its trunk which Peter and the boys could jump into, leading to a secret underground living space. Looking at images of Italian architect Luciano Pia’s extraordinary residential apartment building which came up just three years ago in Turin, Italy somehow reminded me of the tree house in the animation due to its playful exterior façade filled with trees that would indeed make Peter and the lost boys jump for joy if it were to be their home.
With more than 150 trees planted around as well as within the apartment building, it stands as a stark contrast to the city of Turin’s industrial surroundings. It is also unlike any other apartment building that you’ve seen due to the architect’s amazing design concept of making the trees and green landscaping the main foundation to build around. According to Pia, he wanted to build a building that was not just a structure in itself, but also part of the natural surroundings in which we live. “Normally architects tend to design and build the building first, and then add in the trees and greenery in the available empty spaces,” he says. “But I wanted to do just the opposite. When designing, I put in place the gardens, trees and shrubs first; and then in the remaining spaces, I designed the apartment.”
Spanning five storeys high, the entire structure is mainly made of steel with wooden terraces and over a million reddish larch shingles covering its apartment units, boasting a rather classy rustic look. It has aptly been named “25 Verde” with “verde” meaning “green” in Spanish. Besides the abundance of greenery surrounding the building’s façade, there are also an additional 50 trees planted in the court garden within the apartment, providing a refreshing forest-like atmosphere. Just imagine the amount of oxygen and fresh air that residents will be able to take in on a daily basis! The trees are also said to act as noise filters, dampening the noise from the surrounding industrial area and creating a calm and peaceful atmosphere to live within the city.
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A total of 63 residential units nestle amidst the trees. They come in a variety of sizes with units from 45 to 60 sqm occupying the ground floor duplex along with their own gardens, terraces and 80 to 90 sqm-drives; and units from 120 to 150 sqm with terraces mostly south and large windows facing north – towards the inner garden. The units come completely empty with no internal parts, thus giving residents the privilege of designing their entire living space from scratch including the layout of the rooms as well as the interior design.
BUILT-IN SUSTAINABILITY
Although the house exudes a playful vibe and a striking appearance, its design goes beyond aesthetics – it serves a greater purpose. Its lavish greenery is said to absorb approximately 200,000 litres of carbon dioxide an hour which bodes well for the environment amidst the surrounding industrial area. The trees also act as an effective “temperature-mitigator”, shading the apartment’s interiors from heat during the summer whilst letting sufficient light in during winter. “In fact, the greenery in the garden creates a microclimate that differs significantly from the rest of the surrounding city –an environment that is less hot in summer and less cold in winter by about
5 °C,” says Pia.
The full wall windows in the apartment units allow a generous amount of sunlight to seep through, eliminating the need for artificial lighting during the day. Since one of the main aims of the project is to boost energy efficiency, the walls of the building are heavily insulated while geothermal energy is used for heating and cooling. Green roofs are also used to collect rainwater which is then stored to irrigate the greeneries. Residents on the highest floor are also free to cultivate their own vegetables and fruits on private green roofs allocated specially for them.
With such a massive amount of greeneries surrounding the building, comes a great need for care and maintenance. Apart from the private green roofs on the top floor which is managed by the residents themselves, all the other greeneries – be it the potted plants, trees, green walls and so on – are managed by a gardener, costing each household an average of about 500 € per year. “These costs are very low in relation to the quality of the environment experienced by residents within ’25 Verde’,” assures Pia. And it goes without saying that the apartment is indeed a healthy natural oasis to live in, safe from the industrial air of its surroundings.[/ihc-hide-content]