Design studio 3GATTI has created a new proposal for a contemporary fire station along Lecco Lake in Italy. Inspired by the concept of green flames and red blazes, the symbol of the Italian Fire Brigade, the team aimed to integrate the new headquarters of the Lecco Fire Department inside the landscape of the Lecco Lake. The project creates an iconic green landmark with a signature façade created by a tower and green slabs.
The metaphor of the "flames" of grass created a layout perpendicular to the coast and the road. In this way, free views were created, from the road to the lake and the landscape behind, mitigating the impact of the buildings on both sides. The circulation layout consists of two main layers: the large driveway adjacent to the main road, and the pedestrian one, mostly covered by the porch and adjacent to the cycle path and all the covered entrances of the buildings.
The green surface rising vertically will be the training tower. It will be built with the green wall technique and be formed by a frame inside which plants are inserted. The frame will be made by a metal support that is fixed to the wall: this frame also has a structure made of expanded PVC, several layers of natural fibrous material and an irrigation system that allows the distribution of water to the plants. In this way the plants are always detached from the concrete wall of the tower, so not to affect the structure in any way.
In order to respect the client's budget, the buildings will be composed of a reinforced concrete structure, a material that remains exposed in the lower floor and with red pigments in the upper slab of the roof garden. The building facade will be alternately covered with glass and fiber cement panels, according to the needs for transparency or opacity. The upper floors, which host the dormitories and offices will face directly onto the roof garden and will have a similar façade with the ground floor.
The project want to be a model of environmental sustainability, in fact, the morphology of the buildings, the garden roof (which increases thermal and acoustic insulation), the protection systems of the facades, natural ventilation, plant optimization and the use of renewable energies will bring the building into energy class A +, placing it among the buildings that have the best international standards for quality features. The entire complex was designed and oriented to ensure the best passive energy supply also thanks to the solar thermal panels placed above the roof of the upper blocks.
The new fire station aims to be an example for new institutional architecture in Lecco and the Italian territory.
News via 3GATTI
