VILLA TARANTINO
The project is part of the dialogue between contemporary architecture and industrial archaeology. Rich in twentieth-century contaminations, the original layout of the building is nineteenth-century, neoclassical and with load-bearing masonry in Neapolitan yellow tuff. For the factory, which covers about 300 square meters, the eventual demolition of the six-meter-high walls on which the tuff arches rest, would have meant endorsing an operation to erase the memory of the genius loci and the native vocation of the building: the hemp factory. Therefore, the design choice was to consolidate the history and structure by intervening first of all on the foundations of the factory. They are intertwined with the foundations of the new building, a white neo-block that is distinguishable by its persistence. To ensure that the tuff arched structure could lightly penetrate the new walls of the nascent building, the structure was designed entirely in steel: steel beams and pillars, corrugated sheet metal floors and walls with thermo blocks to ensure thermal insulation. Ultimately to achieve the thermal comfort necessary for the intended use of the building, an efficient underfloor heating system was installed and solar panels were installed on the flat roof. The use of the old cistern to collect rainwater and reuse it contributes to the almost complete self-sufficiency of the housing unit.
