Costa Architetti Headquarters
Catania, Sicily, Italy
Products
Application
Indoor
Workplace
Location
Catania, Sicily, Italy
Project
Costa Architetti Headquarters
Architect
Costa Architetti
Year
2020
Costa Architetti Headquarters
The project relates to the redevelopment of an old ruin in the province of Catania, located in the historical centre of Tremestieri Etneo, whose territory is entirely bound by the Superintendence for Cultural and Environmental Heritage. It is a single-storey building, raised above street level. It consists of a load-bearing structure of lava stone blocks, typical of the area, with a pitched wooden roof. Internally, in almost all the rooms, there were pavilion vaults made of reeds and plaster, which have been restored and maintained.
Hi-res images
The renovation entailed distorting the structure, retaining the external shell, but ensuring that the interior was revolutionised to ensure a more correct use in relation to today's needs.
The interventions that required the most time and resources were related to:
- Reinforcement rings, the result of structural calculation, through the insertion of iron beams and pillars, which allowed for more light from the outside and the possibility of creating larger rooms internally;
- Creation of a loose stone foundation on the ground floor, following the excavation of approximately 50 cm from the original level, to ensure the elimination of rising damp on one side, and to create continuity between the exterior and interior on the other;
- Re-roofing, replacing all wooden elements and Sicilian tiles;
- Renovation of the stairs leading to the building.
In accordance with Sicilian tradition, it was decided to use typical local materials that would blend well with the load-bearing masonry structure. To this end, all the external facades, vaults and some horizontal surfaces were treated with cocciopesto. This material, composed of a lime base to which aggregates such as brick dust and azole (a black sand typical of the Etna area) are added, ensures resistance to moisture attack. This has been combined with lime for all the flooring, both external and internal, wood and lava stone, left exposed, both internally and externally.
Download all images
.zip
