Renovation of the Caserma Sani Area
Bologna, Italia

Our proposal for the Sani Barracks faces in a radical way a complex and delicate theme previously dealt with “from below”.
We started from the assumption that this archipelago of objects of industrial archaeology immersed in greenery should remain frozen in its current image, for us indissoluble in its documentary value.
That’s why, in our proposal, the existing buildings are simply re-functionalised according to the needs of the program and organised in the form of “Villages” with different vocations connected by a slender internal infrastructure , independent from the grid, and reflecting the new hierarchy.
The 18000 square meters of new housing have been settled entirely in two towers, located in the northwestern corner, well lit from south and aiming to the nice view of the hillside. These huge “shelvings” are thought to house residential units of various size, freely customisable in plan, section and also façade, just like in the Obus Plan by Le Corbusier, generating on the elevation of each tower a colourful mosaic. Moreover, due to the tapered protrusion of the shelves each unit will have at disposal a wide external surface.
In conclusion, in spite of the apparent rudeness of its macrostructural configuration, the proposal offers to the future inhabitants an uncommon freedom of configuration, while the minimised footprint is coherent with the initial aim not to corrode the existing green mass.