

Continuity between the various sides and the various views
The primary inspiration is transparency and then fluidity (in the unfolding and articulation of the forms, to make the complex, in anticipation of the completion of the interventions also on the existing towers, a single organism and not a sum of monoliths)
Transparency
The glass …. before material, it can be one of the most advanced languages (from the point of view of technical feasibility, sustainability and efficiency) and at the same time the most flexible for giving shape to a contemporary tower, especially in a context in which environmental assessment and dutiful respect were fundamental of pre-existences.
The use of a double-skin glass façade makes it possible to give shape to a building (which, due to its position and size, inevitably finds itself in comparison with the nearby courthouse and above all with the dome), lightening its perceived solidity, to glide on a dimension that is as incorporeal as possible, an organism that allows light to pass through it in a changing way.
The tower emerges, articulated between the evanescence of the glass surface and the structural frames which act as a structural and decorative texture at the same time, as a gesture of gentle interpretation of the large mass towards its surroundings.
Fluidity
The rounded shapes, both of the tower and of the wings that envelop the entire complex, accompany and underline the continuity between the various sides and the various views, each side dissolves in continuity with the adjacent one.
A glass membrane envelops not only the tower but, at different heights and with different techniques, also the 2 pre-existing "towers", creating an undulating and soft unicum, where the schematic geometries of the facades are made evanescent and indefinite by the changing transparencies of the wings.
Technique
The material... glass surfaces in 2 different technological and formal interpretations:
- "double skin façade" contained by a structural and decorative cage in bronzed steel for the tower;
- "ventilated façade" as regards pre-existing buildings, with a screen that runs flexibly along the entire perimeter, made up of simple curved U-glass, which shields the frame of the fixtures with not only an aesthetic function but also a bioclimatic balance and which at the same time shields the seismic consolidation structures that will externally envelop the buildings.
Like a material that dresses the tower and then unwinds, I would almost say it unrolls like a cloak to incorporate the existing buildings so that from the outside everything can be perceived in a clear formal continuity.
The position and orientation of the tower also derives from this objective, in fact it is placed in continuation of the alignments, or rather in continuity with an arm of tower B, as the vertex and origin of the future complex.
The articulation of the complex
The tower is grafted onto the large circular podium, which contains 2 large courtyards, one reserved for staff and the other open to the public.
This is the central hub of the complex and contains on one side the entire access system to the operational areas and those open to the public of the administrative structure, on the other the area of the complex intended for all other important public functions and open to the city , such as auditorium, exhibition space, refreshment area, etc.
The green texture of the courtyards, which formally continues at another level above the roofing plate, recalls the perennial themes of Tuscan culture with the geometric patterns of green essences, dotted with cypresses.
From the outside the plate extends, almost hovering in the air (and reflected on the thin body of water that acts as a margin and connection with the urban fabric), protects and underlines the ground and first levels, communicating a value of tangible transparency and ideal of the governing body.
Connections
The project is projected towards the idea of the final structure of the complex, i.e. a unitary organism made up of towers A, B and the third, also for this reason we interpreted the large void existing between tower A and tower B as a future living organism , a greenhouse populated with essences that belong to the present and past history of the territory, also imagined as a forum and as a path of real symbolic connection, an area that can be crossed at various heights which completes the system of operational connections within the complex.
Project presented, in collaboration with ARCH. CLAUDIO NARDI
Additional information and dimensional data
Place
Florence
Typology
Uffici
Year
2022 - 2023
Size
Auditorium 350 seats
Client
Tuscany region
Services performed
Ideas competition
Collaborations
Claudio Nardi Architects
Sani Ingegneria S.r.l.
GPA PARTNERS