Architects Paola Vighy and Giovanni Traverso, of the architectural office of the same name, with the latest project for the headquarters of their office TVZEB, provide a good example of green architecture.
Zero energy building, created in collaboration with the Department of Technical Physics of the University of Padua, is nestled in the woods a few kilometres from the centre of Vicenza. No show-off loft or attic or opulent furnishings for the offices of the designers from Vicenza, but the desire to turn the need for a headquarters into an opportunity of research and communication on the importance of sustainability in architecture.
Among the salient features of the project are the concept of reversibility through a light structure, made up of recycled removable elements or completely recyclable ones. The larch glulam and galvanized steel used for the structure and finish provide the perfect blend with the surroundings.
The building was developed in parts through a process that saw, first of all the collaboration of a local network of small industrial and handicraft companies, followed by the dry assembly of the whole structure.
The glazed façade to the south is characterized by the “funnel” shape, designed to maximize sunlight entering during the winter months and to completely exclude direct radiation in the summer months.
The project stratagems were joined by other systems to ensure energy sustainability. In addition to a geothermal heat pump, which regulates the temperature of the air and water flows exploiting the microclimatic conditions of the subsoil, and the photovoltaic system, they have used a circadian lighting system, which means natural light integrated with an indirect lighting system, in which the inner vertical surfaces of the building, covered by a particular knurled aluminium plate, spread the light coming from a sequence of LED bars embedded in the floor, throughout the room.
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