PESTALOZZI RESIDENCE
Social housing complex
The area consists of a lot with a front of about 50 meters along the public street and a depth that extends for 200 meters inside a large urban compound; the north and west sides of the lot are flanked by a private internal road.
In the process of building replacement, the complex which now insists on the lot, built in the late ‘60s and consisting of two buildings, will be demolished in order to have five new apartment buildings.
The first of these ones will be built to the front property lines, as prescribed by the city plan, providing roof height alignment with the neighboring buildings. On the right side of the new front street wall, there will be the access to a semi-public footpath, running alongside a row of poplars, which will represent the edge of the new urban front, overlooking the former artisan district .
Along this inner front, the project proposes a sequence of volumes made of 5 and 6 storey buildings with penthouses, crowned with sloping roofs and light cuts that give rhythm and articulation to the whole complex. At the foot, a continuous portico connects the volumes.
To the south the buildings open up more, defining a system of semi-open courtyards overlooked by large balconies, which are screened by vertical pilasters.