Dedalo Minosse Prize: Inspirational projects
Construction being one of the most polluting industries, in recent years architects have increased their efforts towards eco-efficient design and multiplied creative solutions for the built environment. Sustainability in buildings is now accomplished through multiple approaches, which define the end result of architects’ practice at progressively earlier stages. When resource efficiency is set as a primary design goal, buildings uncontroversially show it, no matter if this is achieved through integration of energy saving solutions, choice of materials, layout and construction solutions or the many more tools that traditional know-how as well as state of the art technology offer to the designer.
This is the case of a handful of projects awarded within the 12th edition of the Dedalo Minosse prize, unique in its genre as it is intended to acknowledge and reward architects’ clients, those who commission buildings. Counting an international jury that includes professionals and artists such as Kengo Kuma and Michelangelo Pistoletto, to name just a few, the prize is awarded every other year in Vicenza in the magnificent settings of Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico and Basilica in Vicenza.
Among the projects presented, three buildings stood up for their consistent implementation of one or more sustainability-driven solutions.
Green Pea – Green Retail Park – Negozio Blu Architetti Associati – Caoduro Lucernari prize
Green Pea Retail Park in Turin, Italy, commissioned by Eataly’s founder Oscar Farinetti and designed by ACC Naturale Architettura Cristiana Catino and Negozio Blu Architetti, was completed in 2020. The outer steel framework is meant to let light in for greeneries, protected by wooden sunshade slats. The rooftop is an accessible garden with energy capturing glass houses, which also convey natural light to the multistorey building. Use of renewable energy, the creation of a controlled microclimate through the integration with vegetation, attention to materials (the wood of the facade is from European spruce trees that were blown down by Storm Adrian in Veneto in 2018) result in Green Pea being a great example of organic construction based on state of the art technology.
Image curtesy by Dedalo Minosse
Biblioteca pubblica – MIDE architetti
This public library was built in 2020 by the Veggiano municipality, a village near Padova, Italy. MIDE architetti approached the design to accomplish a Nearly Zero Building (NZEB) defined as “a building with a very high energy performance in which the very low or almost zero energy requirement is significantly covered by energy from renewable sources, produced on site”. The elegant, simple structure – a double-pitched timber roof and portico with wide glass walls – is surrounded by green, providing an additional value to the eco-efficient approach chosen for this project.
Image curtesy by Dedalo Minosse
Appropriate_Bistro Bergsteiger – PLASMA STUDIO
The name of the place says it all. Set in an UNESCO area in Sesto, Südtyrol, this discrete building merges with its surroundings actively looking for a connection to its environment. Using the advantage of the sloping ground, the bistro is fully integrated in the local topography, providing a balanced example of biophilic design. Materials, inspired by an older neighbouring structure, play an important role in supporting the layout choices. Spray plaster prepared with local stone and sand is used for the interior and exterior surfaces, while larch wood from the region for wainscoting and interior furnishings: traditional materials are newly interpreted in a contemporary, smooth and refreshing design that speaks perfectly for an “as much as necessary, as little as possible” approach.
Image curtesy by Dedalo Minosse
Materially, in addition to supporting design studios in the research for new eco-efficient and creative solutions for the construction of more sustainable buildings, it proposes itself as a proactive hinge between material producers and users through B2B meetings, workshops and targeted meetings. To find out more, contact us.
