Corte Bertesina / traverso-vighy architetti

Architects: traverso-vighy architetti
Location: 36100 Vicenza, Province of Vicenza, Italy
Architect In Charge: Giovanni Traverso, Paola Vighy
Area: 2258.0 m2
Project Year: 2017
Photographs: Alessandra Chemollo

Client: Azienda Agricola Corte Bertesina
Collaborators: Lucia Angelini, Cristina Baggio, Chiara Cavalieri, Stefania Dal Bianco, Giulio Dalla Gassa, Giulia Maria d’Arco, Aurelia Marzano, Grace Rome
Structural Design : Loris Frison
Electrical And Mechanical Design: Gruppo SIA
Safety: Giorgio Schettin

Text description provided by the architects. Located on the outskirts of Vicenza and only 3km from Piazza dei Signori, Corte Bertesina is a typical, rural, nineteenth century Venetian courtyard connected to a 17-hectare country estate with certified organic gardens of vegetables, grains and fodder. The gardens are protected inside a vast area planted in 2001 with trees native to the Po Valley. Since 2010, the estate also functions as a social farming center, offering job opportunities to young people with Down Syndrome.

The objective of the project has been to regenerate and complete the existing building core with the intention of developing new functional relationships: cultural and educational activities for the enhancement of the forest landscape, social farming activities through the involvement of young people with Down Syndrome, collaboration with local social cooperatives, preparation and sale of agricultural products, residences, bed and breakfast.

Additionally, the project aims to intervene into the natural context as lightly as possible, absorbing from the surroundings visual, energetic and wellness potential for its future inhabitants.

The concept of sustainability was a driving force behind the social intentions of the project, encompassing the wellbeing of its users, the choice of building materials and construction techniques, and energy production and use.

The space of the historic courtyard is defined on the south edge by a long, linear wall in local stone built using traditional methods. The wall acts as a “filter” between public, social functions that occur in the courtyard and the private programs of the new residences.

The new residential volumes are articulated linearly: light structures, hinged onto a stone wall which sits on a large, underground floor conceived to house the residents’ vehicles. A visual connection with the exterior landscape, the sun’s orientation and the control of natural ventilation are the main factors that informed the design solution.

The roof covering is shaped to control natural light and maximize its photovoltaic potential.

On the southeast, a simple volume clad in irregular larch planks completes the courtyard: it holds the cultural center, dedicated to the education and appreciation of the surrounding wooded landscape. Its glass wall guides the visitors’ attention towards the outdoor scenery and a network of trails inside the woodland.

From a construction standpoint, the intervention was approached with an innovative spirit, using the development of light, prefabricated construction methods which allowed the project to be concluded in a limited time frame. The design process resembled that of an industrial product and defined various construction components in wood, steel and stone built off-site by a group of local industrial companies and artisans. The components were than assembled on-site using tectonic connectors.

The materials, produced by numerical control systems, are traditional and chosen to easily blend into the surrounding environment. Larch wood, conventionally used for its durability, was chosen as the main construction material. Throughout the project it can be found in the form of glued laminated beams and columns, interior and exterior enclosures, in door and window framing and shading, as flooring and in the design of custom-made furniture.