Matteo Vitali
cover
side A_Sketch of a detail of the helical ramp in the Lingotto building in Torino made on a train to Ventimiglia. Check out my photography portfolio to see side B cover:
AN ARCHITECTURE THAT HEALS
CDC GALLARATESE is the integrated project from urban to detailed scale of a social-health building in the periphery of Milan. The Casa di Comunità (CdC) is a new territorial facility designed for a future and present post-pandemic public healthcare more capable of handling emergencies and relieving the pressure on big hospitals. It fits into a context on the margins of the city and metaphorically also on the margins of the dominant interest: the periphery. The project must therefore be observed in parallel with the following project, FIVE SENSES CITY (p. 16), which represents its neighbourhood master plan. The CdC, with its
iconic annular shape, aims to represent a recognisable and familiar landmark for the community and to become itself an instrument of psycho-physical care. The entire work was conducted together with qualitative-quantitative questionnaires addressed to patients and employees and with the collaboration of experts in the fields of sociology, architecture for health, off-site technical architecture structures.
The master's thesis, the full title of which is Casa di Comunità in Milano Gallaratese District. Development of a user-oriented next generation healthcare facility and its parametric off-site façade, explores the building skin as a bridging tool between user well-being, energy efficiency and identity. The skin is then parametrised to achieve the most optimised solution for each orientation.
Function
Community healthcare building
Keywords healing architecture; community healthcare; user-centeredness; soft qualities; evidence-based design; parametric façade; offsite
Team 3 people
Role(s) concept design; sketches; architecture development and drawings; detail design and drawings; façade optimisation; 3D modelling
CDC GALLARATESE
Outpatient rooms on the outer perimeter
Knee-opening façade panels at entrances
Home-like waiting areas
Multifunctional main stair
Double-height main entrance
Barycentric structural cores
Multifunctional healing garden
Meeting plazas in front of the entrances
COMPREHENSIBILITY MANAGEABILITY MEANINGFULNESS
The three principles of "salutogenesis" are embodied in the circular building.
TRIPARTITION
A central uninterrupted corridor divides private and collective functions.
FREE PLAN
Vertical structures are all set on the perimeters.
BARYCENTRICITY
Entrances and exits
Staircase/elevator blocks Toilet
Medical care
Staff areas
Additional services
MACRO-AREAS ORGANISATION
In section, the Casa di Comunità is a sequence of interior and exterior spaces in visual and experiential continuity.
To the left, the double-height main entrance. On the right, two floors of outpatient rooms.
Photovoltaic panels
External steel structure
Aluminium louvre blades
Glue-laminated timber column, main and secondary beam
Pre cast timber frame dry wall closure
Extensive
5-layered
Building systems integration
Detail section representing the ring functioning. Along the outer perimeter, the more private functions, e.g. outpatient rooms. Towards the inner courtyard, more collective activities take place.
The façade is the main technological focus of the building: like a skin, it must protect, filter, envelop and regulate exchanges. Expanded metal mesh (EMM) is chosen for its cost-effectiveness, aesthetic value and enormous range of customisability through the variations of its geometrical parameters. The latter factor is decisive as the circular building, having 360° different orientations, requires different solutions for sun shading along its development.
geographical location
shoe-box room
3D model
3D PARAMETRIC MODEL
EMM façade panel
from the glazing
For the parametrisation of the façade panel, a Grasshopper + Octopus (in Rhino) script was created to generate a lighting-optimised EMM geometry from the climate data, orientation and size of the room to be shaded. The resulting geometry was then cross-referenced with the geometric data of products from local manufacturers in order to select a readymade material available for use.
In this summary diagram we see three inputs: the geographical location, the configuration of the analysis room and the lighting requirements to be met. This all flows into the parametrisation tool that produces a number of geometries starting from the most optimal.
KPIs
visibility (% Front Open Area, etc.)
Parametric model in Grasshopper, optimised through Octopus
EMM product 1 Most optimised EMM product
EMM product 2
EMM product 3
EMM product 4
A CITY THAT HEALS
Location
Gallaratese (Milano)
Year 2024
Area neighbourhood scale
Function
Multifunctional masterplan
Keywords multifunctional masterplan; multi-sensory; healthy ageing; nature-based solutions
Team 3 people
Role(s)
concept design; sketches; development drawings
The former project (CDC GALLARATESE ) is not a cathedral in the desert imposed from above as another means of healthcare provision. On the contrary, it is the entire neighbourhood that is transformed and populated with activities scattered throughout the area to complement and support the central Casa di Comunità. Analysing the Gallaratese area as it stands, one is faced with several green areas, rare in Milan, but still neglected and left to mere expanses of lawn and uncultivated plants. The FIVE SENSES CITY project starts from this and proposes a reconnection and regeneration of
natural spaces in a multifunctional urban green infrastructure. Along this, conceived as a ‘Strada Vitale’ (= vital street) to be travelled on foot, small light and modular pavilions are housing all those neighbourhood activities collateral to the health facility and more. At the heart of the concept is the desire to encourage walking, which is beneficial for the high percentage of elderly people in the neighbourhood (Gallaratese is one of the oldest district in Europe), to avoid the concentration of activities all in one fulcrum, and to promote a healthcare system that goes close to the person and not vice versa. The pavilions, with their simple composition, are intended to allow the experience of the city not only with sight, but with all the senses through the essences of vegetation, the edible landscape, various tactile textures and sound elements.
The route starts from a urban green hill, Monte Stella, and like a tributary crosses the neighbourhood, sometimes generating active areas dedicated to sport, education, health promotion, sometimes integrating solutions for micro-climatic mitigation (rain gardens, lamination basins).
FIVE SENSES CITY
In the collective imagination, Gallaratese is associated with the ‘palazzoni’ (literally ‘big blocks of flats’) that massively invaded the neighbourhood in the 70s for economic and industrial purposes (more than 120 residential blocks of 10 and more stories and more than 65 nearly identical towers). The design response thus envisions smaller and therefore more human-scale buildings inserted along the path. Their name, ‘station’, evokes the concept of a stage along the way, but comes from the verb ‘to stay’ suggesting the role of the stop, each time unique and made characteristic by the different type of pavilion, generated by a singular relationship with the context (In, Up, Through, Around, Under). The project a programmatic cue, and deliberately does not provide a defined indication of the construction method and materials to be used. This is because it is hoped that these structures can be realised through virtuous community processes, collaborations with local production or research entities, and thus different, bottom-up solutions can be adopted each time. The compositional simplicity of the Stations is purposely made to allow a wide variety of material for structure and envelope, and to facilitate the use of waste materials from recycling or sustainable, naturebased processes. The structure is lightweight and slightly raised from the ground to allow easy reversibility, disassembly and eventual transportability of the entire module or parts of it.
The pavilions establish a new relationship with the surrounding green space. A number of typological variants are suggested, each to be experienced according to a different humanarchitecture relationship: in, through, up, around and under.
invitation for walking
recreation
invitation for standing and staying
human scale day/evening/night
protection against traffic
invitation for walking
aesthetic and sesnory
invitation for standing and staying
protection against traffic
positive aspects of climate
varying seasonal activities
aesthetic and sesnory
invitation for standing and staying
interaction
play
visual contact
interaction
A NEW NORMAL LIFE-STYLE
Location
Norrby (Stockholm)
Year 2021
Area
15 m2
Function
Micro-housing
Keywords
micro-housing; community living; off-grid; climate design
Team
4 people
Role(s)
design engineering; detail design and drawings; energy optimisation
CONCAVE is the project of a community of 15 tiny houses in the forest of Norrby, a few kilometres south of Stockholm. The project stems from the convergence of three needs: economic affordability in a capital city with significant housing issues; social sustainability in proposing a new way of living that is less individualistic and more sharing; and desire for close, daily contact with nature. Specifically, the project proposes an aggregation of units scattered in the forest with a footprint of no more than 15 square metres and a central hub for community activities. The purpose is not to propose an exceptional option to a limited category of people, but
to stimulate people to consider this life-style as a viable alternative that does not sacrifice anything indispensable. Even if it is only a few square metres, in fact, the technological-architectural design effort is geared towards putting the user's comfort at the heart.
Concave refers to the iconic shape of the tiny house, whose roof not only makes it recognisable, but also creates a unique, glare-free cascade of light inside. Climate design is at the core of the project choices, all of which are aimed at minimal energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Natural ventilation (cross ventilation and stack effect) is favoured by the geometry and openings. The latter favour optimal natural lighting, whose values are analysed punctually with specific software. The orientation of the tiny house favours the view of natural space and maximises the building's passive behaviour. The materials are chosen for their durability, practicality and integration with the natural context.
CONCAVE
HEATING WOOD STOVE
OPTIMAL ORIENTATION
Exposure of fronts maximises free solar gains
OPERABLE GLAZING AND SHUTTERS
They make the tiny house adaptable yet efficient
HOT WATER
ELECTRIC BOILER
Hot water temperature: 60° return / 70° supply
COOLING / VENTILATION
NATRUAL VENTILATITON
The chimney effect and the cross ventilation guarantee an efficient cooling and air exchange
ROOF CLADDING
TITANIUM ZINC
- Light structure
- Seam roofing system, waterproof
- Dark colour, thermal energy storage
WINDOWS AND WINDOW DOORS
WOOD / ALUMINIUM FRAME
- The internal wood reduces the U value of the window
FACADE / SHUTTER / EXTERNAL DOOR LARCH WOOD
- Unpainted
- Mantainance free
- Good durability
- The external aluminium makes the window impact- and water-resistant
FRIDGE
292 kWh/year
LIGHTING
105 kWh/year
ELECTRICAL STOVE
270 kWh/year
ELECTRIC BOILER
COP = 0,9
Peak Distribution Efficiency = 0,85
Hot Water: 60° return / 70° supply
COMPUTER / INTERNET / OTHER
265 kWh/year
SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC INSTALLED ON THE ROOF OF THE HUB
Panel efficiency 15 %
2 m2 per UNIT = 30 m2 + 8 m2 for the hub
SOUTH-Facing Tilt: 30°
*the community is linked to the electrical grid in order to guarantee electrical coverage in the winter period due to the low sunlight
A VIEWPOINT IN THE CITY
Location
Galbiate (Lecco)
Year 2021
Area
6880 m2
Function
Multifunctional hub
Keywords multifunctional; off-site façade; city waterfront; energy efficiency; technological detail
Team
10 people
Role(s)
concept design; sketches; architecture development and drawings; detail design and drawings; façade optimisation; 3D modelling
PROMENADDA is a long, horizontal building that follows and reshapes the river front of Galbiate, on the opposite bank of Lecco, creating a landmark integrated with the existing cycle path. The river is the Adda, which flows shortly into Lake Como and gives the building its name: a multi-level promenade consisting of gentle accessible ramps. The three storeys are in fact connected both inside and outside by sloping walkways that run the length of the building and ultimately lead to its walkable, partly green roof. It is not only the top terrace that serves as a viewpoint, but the entire promenade is designed to be walked with a view to the outside
landscape. This is why the façade continually presents differently sculpted optical cones that direct the eye while acting as sunscreens. These are made from prefabricated panels of shaped Glass Reinforced Concrete (GRC) and suspended from a steel grid substructure. The need for prefabrication is recurrent in almost all the structural and non-structural elements of the complex. The project plot is in fact very narrow and adjacent to a hightraffic road that cannot be replaced. Therefore, construction time must be kept to a minimum. Promenadda condenses within it some of the functions that the area lacks according to urban analyses. On the ground floor, directly connected to the river, there is a restaurant and café area; on the first floor, facing the street, commercial activities and a multifunctional exhibition area; on the top floor, a study room and library for adults and children.
PROMENADDA
The project followed a BIM approach for the coordination of the disciplines: architectural, structural and MEP.
LIGHT PRE-CAST SCHOOL MODULE
Location
Avellino (*replicable)
Year 2022
Area
n x 55 m2
Function
Primary education
Keywords innovative education; modular architecture; light pre-cast structure; climate design
Team 3 people
Role(s)
concept design; sketches; architecture development and drawings; detail design and drawings
IDEM SCHOOL originates from the competition's call for an easy-to-construct, repeatable modular primary school. Idem, from the Latin 'the same', recalls repetition and is an acronym for 'IronDom Education Module'. Irondom, the promoter of the competition, manufactures and designs cold-formed steel structures, which is used in the construction of the module. The project stems from the need to respond quickly yet with quality to the Italian school emergency caused by dated and seismically vulnerable facilities, but is designed to be applicable to any context. Each time, however, according to specific contextual requirements, the combination of
modules can be adapted thanks to the trapezoidal shape, which generates interesting compositions of various formats and potential sizes. Starting with a minimum unit of 55 m2, the primary school provides all the space it needs, sometimes by joining several modules, sometimes by keeping them separate and generating more private or more open exterior spaces. The individual unit is designed to have a functional main area and a side corridor. Openings are made on both short sides and in the roof to ensure effective natural ventilation and adequate lighting. The windows have movable screens to accommodate the needs of the users. On the classroom side, the roof overhangs to create a small patio which, when several modules are joined together, becomes a long covered outdoor walkway for passage or play.
Depending on the climatic conditions of the location, one can opt for one composition rather than another in order to favour the right level of comfort for users.
IDEM SCHOOL
1 8 12 16 26
The trapezoidal shape, as well as recalling the archetypical shape of places of listening, combines effectively with others to generate different building types. The combination of the modules allows their expansion to generate diverse spaces suitable for different school activities. Here, a possible type plan.
To complete the structure, dry closures compose the envelope. A vertical larch slat cladding, chosen for its durability and aesthetic properties, makes the place cosy and natural-like for children and teachers. External knee-opening blinds protect the patio in front of the classroom from excessive sunlight when necessary.
The supporting structure is entirely a diffuse coldformed steel frame. The wall elements and roof trusses are pre-cast and only installed on site. All dimensions respect the limits set by the manufacturer without requiring special components or complex structural solutions.
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