Parish centre of Cuneo: colour games with Palagio Engineering cladding

Parish centre of Cuneo, San Giovanni Battista: colour games with Palagio Engineering cladding

A delight for the eyes that invites the community to actively participate in parish life, a modern and functional centre that does not contrast the existing architecture, but exalts its openness to dialogue. The multicolor wall claddings and sunscreen systems by Palagio Engineering have proved fundamental to the aesthetics and functionality of the structure of San Giovanni Battista Parish in Cuneo.

The project, committed to Architect Luca Soave and Surveyor Emilio Dalmasso, meets the requirements of aggregation, education and recreation typical of an active community life. The new building with a semicircular shape that hugs internally a green area, protects the users from the street, hiding and revealing at the same time the functions of which it is the promoter. The new volume, which is set over one floor and divided into two blocks connected by the main entrance, houses catechism classrooms, a multipurpose hall and a technical room. All rooms are arranged in a radial direction, distributed along the perimeter of the plant and separated by a curved corridor illuminated by zenithal perforated patterns.

The architect’s choices regarding the exterior cladding of the building have been driven by a sustainable approach, the research for comfort and maximum reduction of energy consumption . For these reasons, the selection of materials has been aimed to maximize efficiency and to achieve high thermal performance and optimized internal luminosity of the inhabited spaces. The terracotta wall claddings and sunscreen systems by Palagio Engineering have proved to be perfect for the purpose grace to their energy efficiency, thermal control, acoustic protection and the naturalness of the material.

The wall cladding of the building sees as protagonist terracotta elements,  type Terratube, with square section 60×60 mm and a natural finish in the typical red terracotta color of Impruneta, alternating elements with majolica finish in 4 different colors  cyan, red, green and blue. The elements with a length of 2200 mm are installed vertically and follow the curve of backup wall. The stability conferred to the terracotta tubes by their internal aluminum profile is maximized by a horizontal primary structure in silver anodized aluminum, fixed to the building with stainless steel anchors.

An unique Parish center, a world of color that preserves the qualities of prestige, strength and durability typical for Impruneta terracotta. The design of the new building is marked by the lightness of composition, by the continuous rhythm of perforated patterns and by the color games of the sunscreens. As stated by the Arch. Soave: “A sincere architecture, contemplated,  with a careful choice of solids and empty spaces and of materials, reaching out to give environmental significance to the project.”