Design intentions
THE WHITE KITE:courtyard canopy. Design Architects: ALESSANDRO ROLLINO, SANDRO PANARESE, Collaborator: MICAELA TOLIO_ The canopy belongs to a courtyard next to the central square of the town, and replaces an old structure. The public function of the place, and the client’s will to renew were important inputs for the project: this architecture should have to distinguish itself from the surroundings both from a material and a figurative point of view, trying to attract people, providing them protection, and keeping an open aspect {the new structure has a lower number of columns than the previous one}. The aim of the project was to merge public into private space, thus we imagined to move actions and resting moments of people from the public square into the private courtyard: the resulting structure is developed from a layout, made of perceptual, functional, and structural lines. Since the canopy replaces an old structure, the provisions of the local law fixed the position of the covered surface at ground level - a rectangle of 80 sq m. This restriction forced to an almost exclusively use of section as an expressive tool for design: as a consequence, the space is shaped by the different roof planes inclinations and orientations. The whole load bearing structure is made of tubular steel, while the permanent roof is made of 20mm thick polycarbonate sheets. The white striped sheets were chosen because of their characteristics to reduce the absorption of infra-red sunrays, thereby reducing the heat under the canopy, while at the same time provide excellent light transmission; in hot sunny days, they guarantee the best possible thermal comfort; in the summer time, a temporary white-nylon membrane, can also be added to the southern part of the structure. At ground level there are no physical barriers except for the columns: it’s a wide open space that encourages people to freely move across the space. People can sit down wherever they want -chairs and tables are not fixed - and have a cup of coffee or simply talk to spend some leisure time.