PISA, ITALY 2017

Winery Villa Saletta at Montanelli (PI).

The project is a restyling of the volumes installed in the early 1980s of the last century. The intervention concerns the external surfaces, the entrances to the tasting and the entire administration of the cellar, the tasting and processing area and all the external structures. To these interventions is added the construction of a volume intended for the remittance of agricultural vehicles.

The materials used for the facades strengthen the link between the harsh stereometric volumes and the landscape of the surrounding Pisan countryside. In particular, the plates shake in Cor-Ten self-passivating steel do not define ascetic and lifeless surfaces, but "live" and vibrating facades, with colors that change over time and changes in effects in relation to the point of view. Dry-assembled, without welding, on metal supports fixed to the steel structure, the Cor-Ten was mounted without pre-oxidation. This means that the formation of the patina and the variation of the characteristic occurs at the end of the construction, in long times and with unpredictable results.

The flaring in cork at the main opening and the external stairway to the administration, through the event full of functions, confirm and reinforce the symbolic value of the Cor-Ten, creating at the same time similar material and chromatic contrasts to traces of cultivation on field surfaces. In the same way the joints on Cor-Ten surfaces define backgrounds that refer to the striped landscape of wine growing. In the same way the joints on Cor-Ten surfaces define backgrounds that refer to the striped landscape of wine growing.

All the design choices have been oriented to the energy and plant improvement of the structures, in order to create an internal microclimate suitable for the oenological and conservation processes of the finished products. The buildings are therefore characterized by a high-performance envelope in terms of energy thanks to the use of a cladding that is partly made of fair-faced cork.