Reuse of the former military battery through a multi-objective, territory-oriented approach
For a century in northern Sardinia the remains of a grandiose military complex have lain unarmed. Once the avant-garde of military technology Capo d'Orso is today a fossil trapped in millenary granites. The goal was the creation of a model capable of fitting into the territorial fabric and sourcing on local resources through three actions: Integrate, Optimize and Build. The dialogue between innovation and tradition was the focus by seeking compatibility between often conflicting needs.
Local
Italy
Regione Sardegna, Comune di Palau
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
As an individual in partnership with other persons
First name: Giovanni Last name: Mandelli Gender: Male Age: 24 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Italy Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Via dei Fabi 11 Town: Cugliate Fabiasco Postal code: 21030 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 340 887 4148 E-mail:giovanni3.mandelli@mail.polimi.it
First name: Sara Last name: Piccinelli Gender: Female Age: 24 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Italy Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Via Filippetta 164 Town: Garlate Postal code: 23852 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 340 753 7442 E-mail:sara.piccinelli@mail.polimi.it
First name: Chiara Last name: Marcolongo Gender: Female Age: 24 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Italy Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Via Vincenzo Monti 15 Town: Bergamo Postal code: 24127 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 345 794 8758 E-mail:chiara.marcolongo@mail.polimi.it
The project started from the challenges posed by the dense network of abandoned military forts in northern Sardinia. The rebirth of the area was guided by a model capable of drawing on local resources by redistributing a benefit to the actors involved. The culture and traditions of the area are rich in many interesting fields starting with handicrafts, moving from agricultural products to artistic works. Therefore, the know-how of artisans, the food and wine products of local companies, and the creativity of artists can be important resources for the project and can lead to an increase in the visibility of sides that are sometimes not fully known. In addition, the labour of citizens and the artistic, cultural, and musical activities carried out by local associations may find in the Capo d'Orso project new work opportunities and new spaces that can be used by all. Without forgetting the tourist vocation of the area, tourists who benefit from the overall wellness-focused accommodation can come into contact with the area and its culture, but at the same time help the project to develop economically and thus keep the cultural and historical heritage alive. In addition, it was hypothesised that part of the area during the off-season could be dedicated to activities linked to the Iscol@ initiative, a project active in the area that deals with involving young people in order to combat school drop-out. Guiding the project path were three founding actions: Integrate, Optimise and Construct. Hot topics from which a renovation project cannot disregard, such as energy sustainability, water sustainability, integration between new and existing, constructive and economic feasibility and optimisation of available resources, were the focus of the project. The dialogue between innovation and tradition has always been at the heart of the project, which has dedicated much space to the search for compatibility between often conflicting disciplines and needs.
territorial connection
cultural experience of the place
development of internal resources
enhancement of cultural heritage
involvement of new generations
This work considered the concept of sustainability with a holistic approach, analysing, in addition to the impacts embedded in the construction, the sustainability at the operational level as well. This approach resulted in a high-performance building with low environmental impact, without compromising the visual comfort. The strategy was on the one hand to optimize the structural element, using as little materials as possible, and on the other hand to use biobased materials for the opaque part, reducing the overall carbon footprint of the building. Concrete with the addition of biogenic material capable of storing CO2 was also used in the basement of the building. Moreover, most of the materials come from Sardinian production chains, such as cork oak, rice, maritime pine, and hemp, to ensure the availability of raw materials and to reduce costs and impacts related to logistics. For what concerns the operative sustainability, the work focused on the minimization of the energy and water requirements from external sources. To achieve a sustainable energy system, the structure has been integrated with hybrid thermal-photovoltaic solar panels, generating heat for the spa water and electricity for services. This solution increased the energy independency of the building, generating around 82% of the annual energy consumption with a minimal carbon footprint. To limit the structure’s water consumption, instead, water storage tanks have been designed in order to collect rainwater during winter periods for then using it during summer. This system, integrated with the use of movable pool covers, solar inputs to maintain air temperature close to water temperature, and low transmittance-opaque elements, allowed to cover the entire annual water need of the structure.
The heart of the project is wellness, both physical and mental, a character intrinsic to the natural setting and the peace offered by the granite landscape. Through a holistic vision, five interconnected supporting elements were envisaged, capable of functioning all year round and able to generate value while offering as much to the area in which they are embedded: wellness center, hospitality, park, food and workshop. The activities offer the possibility of fruition to different users and in different time frames. Starting from a vision of the whole area we are faced with a gigantic natural park in which to immerse oneself with different thematic paths: art, sports and reading. In addition, the workshops allow people to discover the local culture with their own hands, stimulating curiosity and creativity. In the winter period, these spaces are dedicated instead to the education of the younger generation. Wellness was introduced into the project not only from a functional point of view, but also from an experiential point of view with a careful study of light and materials. These elements within different spaces are capable of transmitting different energies to the user. And for example, the intimate and spiritual spaces of the bunkers contrast with the freedom and harmony of the addition. The choice of taking different granite finishes for the exterior reverstage and screens give an effect of continuity while having different tactile experiences and respectful recognition of the additions. The concept of enhancing the historic architecture was always at the heart of the project, both from a design and conceptual point of view. Thus, the design desire to keep the camouflage essence of the military sea battery intact was born due to the height difference, set back position, and distance from the coast. In addition, the organization of a system capable of completely splitting the flows of different users and personnel allowed the creation of autonomous routes
The military battery has originally been designed and built without any requirement in terms of accessibility, mostly due to the standard present at the time of construction and the lack of a need for an accessible structure, being it a military architecture. Despite the issues related to the original structure, the renewed function of the battery has been selected and designed to be accessible for everyone, both in terms of physical abilities and variety of the activities taking place in the structure. All the facility has been designed to be accessible to user with disabilities by installing elevators, ramps, horizontal plates, and manoeuvring spaces for wheelchairs, according to the Italian guidelines. Moreover, a series of routes with different difficulty levels have been defined to allow users with different athletic skills to reach the battery. The theme of inclusion has been deepened not just in terms of physical diversity, but also considering the variety of interests and personal tastes of citizens and visitors. Although the core activity is the spa, the business plan of the project also included different activities, such as workshops, food tasting, and courses, to satisfy the needs of the different people visiting the area.
The involvement of citizens and stakeholders has been crucial to identify the new function to be assigned to the military battery, allowing to develop a business model able to enhance the interaction with the local community and their attachment to the territorial culture. A stakeholder analysis has been conducted to identify the main actors involved in the projects, their goals, and their relevance in the decision process. Among these actors, we had the opportunity, during the on-site inspection, to interview the citizens of Palau, from whom resulted a strong interest in the future of Capo d’Orso and the recovery and preservation of its military battery, along with a strong attachment to the local culture and traditions, rich in many interesting facets starting from handicrafts, moving from agricultural products to artistic works. This factor, then, could represent a value for both the project and the citizens, since the know-how of artisans, the food and wine products of local businesses, and the creativity of artists could bring visibility to realities that are sometimes not fully known. In addition, through the labour of citizens and the artistic, cultural, and musical activities, the project can generate new job opportunities and new open spaces. Given the tourist vocation of the area, tourists could get in touch with the area and its culture, but at the same time help the project to develop economically and thus keep alive the cultural and historical heritage. In addition, during the off-season, a part of the area could be dedicated to activities related to the Iscol@ initiative, a regionally active project in the area involving young people in educational projects aimed at contrasting school dropout. The stakeholder and cultural analysis allowed us to identify five building blocks of the organizational chart, being wellness, accommodation, park, food and workshop, making the structure adaptable to operate along all the year.
The identification and analysis of stakeholders was crucial in directing the design choices, because only thanks to the people involved in the project this area can be reborn maintaining its unique characteristics. In particular, there are institutions at the regional level (Region of Sardinia, Soprintendenza, Conservatoria delle coste) and municipal level (Municipality of Palau). Actors who provide cognitive resources are consultants, testers and designers. Other actors whose economic return is affected by design choices are identified both at the international scale (agenzia del Demanio and construction company) and at a smaller spatial scale (suppliers and workers). Finally, three key figures are citizens, associations, and tourists, who are classified at both the national and international scale, because the Region of Sardinia historically attracts tourists from abroad as well. After identifying all stakeholders, they were mapped according to an interest-influence matrix to have a scale to understand how to weigh the different needs. Strategic objectives, specific to each stakeholder, were then defined. Finally, the definition of a concept allows to have "guidelines" to follow in order to maintain an overall vision and coherence to the design choices. Starting from the suggestions found during the site survey and the rediscovery of the distinctive features of the area, the concepts of organism, protection, recognizability, resource, and green regeneration emerged, which are perfectly summarized in the image of oasis. Man through traditional knowledge, which is aware of the delicacy of natural balances, has allowed the creation of oases as fertile and self-propulsive environments, thus an example of sustainability. Thanks to this analysis, design choices have been directed with more awareness and respect for the place and people.
Achieving the project objectives required different insights, the choice of disciplines to be studied and developed in the project was not made a priori but was a consequence of the objectives set. The three founding actions (integrate, optimise, build) bring together in three macro areas the insights made. Integration was the basis of the process and allowed the dialogue between the different disciplines; in this phase the compatibility between the technological systems and the historical pre-existence was studied, going into fundamental issues such as water sustainability and the containment of energy consumption. The aim was to study effective solutions that would not jeopardise the pre-existence. Furthermore, light was studied not only from the point of view of user comfort but also from an emotional point of view. Optimisation, on the other hand, combined the objectives of high structural performance and low environmental impact. Consequently, a topological optimisation process was developed and evaluated with an LCA analysis to determine the best structural solution. Finally, the construction aspect could not be overlooked. The aim was to make construction possible without the use of special means, so an ergotechnical analysis and a disarticulation of technological solutions was carried out to study in detail how the project could be constructed. This phase was accompanied by a careful search for local materials compatible with the project. In this way, technological solutions specific to the area were defined. This entire process was accompanied by an analysis of economic feasibility as the basis of the project must be the actual possibility of realisation.
Traditionally, projects require meeting needs and centring objectives that by their nature are conflicting. The Capo d'Orso project, however, followed a different path. In fact, after defining the objectives of sustainability, comfort and respect for the pre-existence, a process of design optimisation was created that maximised the results of the individual disciplines without making compromises. This approach has therefore resulted in highly sustainable design solutions, respectful towards the pre-existence and using local resources and materials. Even from the point of view of user comfort, not only the classic regulatory parameters were considered, but we went further by investigating the sensations and emotions that each environment must offer. For example, natural light has been the focus of numerous digital modelling projects, which have made it possible to enhance the historic rooms by creating emotional environments capable of welcoming the visitor. Last but not least, the innovative character of the project can be found in the business model identified, in fact two users often considered to be in contrast, i.e. local residents and tourists, manage to come into contact in a non-conflictual manner through a functional model that creates a profitable symbiosis. In this case, the value chain is also redistributed towards the local population who can thus benefit from the project.
The main element of transferability of this work is the holistic method able to reconcile structural, environmental, and societal aspects. Since the beginning, we managed to avoid compromises that would not completely satisfy any need. By using advanced topological optimization tools and a holistic management of the targets, it was possible to achieve result going beyond the sum of the single design choices. Moreover, results have been evaluated not only through numbers and indicators, but also according to the possible feelings generated in the users. In fact, each hypothesis has been evaluated according to the spectrum of human emotions as well as scientific measurements. A further achievement is related to sustainability, demonstrating that it is possible to apply a sustainable approach even to design an energy and water-intensive structure. To reach this result, several strategies have been applied, whose compatibility with the pre-existence posed many challenges. However, by approaching the problem from the early design stages and not after the fact, it was possible to make the building self-sufficient except for only certain times of the year. The material choice followed a similar approach: using natural and local materials required a change in construction logic, showing once again that material constraints can be transformed into constructive and compositional opportunities. Given the high number of abandoned military batteries present in the area, the design process through integration optimization and construction, proposed in this work, could be easily transferred, resulting in different design choices selected according to the case study.
To ensure a sustainable design of the project, our concept relied on the Sustainable Development Goals defined by the United Nation. Concerning social aspects, the concept is intended to promote both physical and mental well-being of the visitors (goal 3), exploiting the immersion into a remote and quiet naturalistic context and the activities proposed in the spa, and to reduce inequalities (goal 10), by guaranteeing access to people with physical disabilities. Moreover, in a region strongly devoted to regional tourism, this structure creates new job opportunities available all the year, providing stable workplaces to the local population and promoting the local economy (Goal 8). The SDGs directly oriented the design choices implemented in the project, in which the concept of innovation has been central, according to Goal 9. Modular and demountable elements have been used, along with the integration of different disciplines, optimizing aesthetic, structural and environmental aspects. In addition, the use of high-performance biogenic materials and solar panels for generating clean electricity and heat (Goal 7), allowed to reduce the carbon footprint of the facility, therefore contrasting climate change (Goal 13). Other key aspects taken into account are the sustainability of consumption and production patterns (Goal 12) and the preservation of terrestrial ecosystems (Goal 15). The first aspect has been tackled by integrating a water management system collecting and recirculating water from rainfalls and the air treatment units to guarantee water independence, and by using local materials and solar panels for electricity and heat generation. Finally, plants belonging to the native flora has been planted along the pathways connecting the different buildings.
