X-11 Koessler

View of the south-east facade of the apartment building.

Project Details

• Project Name: X-11 Koessler
• Client: Confcooperative di Bolzano
• Project Type: Housing design
• Principal Designer: Salvo Di Silvestro, Marco de Fonzo
• Design Team: Salvo Di Silvestro, Marco de Fonzo, Giorgio Gottardi
• Year of commencement of project: 2003
• Year of completion of project: 2007
• Location of site: Laives (BZ), Italy
• Site Area: 930 square meters

Detail of the south-east facade.

The Building

The brief required the realization of a 9 unit apartment building on a site with particularly unfavorable conditions.

X-11 Koessler - Elevation.

The final design, instead of deriving from its site and context, is more a composition of solids.

In order to maximize the impact of this design concept, the facades of the different solids were finished in different materials and colors.

View of the north-west facade of the building.

The presence of a water-bearing stratum close to the surface of the site led to the choice of adopting special additives in the concrete used to build the underground level housing the parking area.

The south-east facade is clad with grey HLP panels and is enriched by the presence of large balconies whose irregular shape characterizes the entire front.

The north-west facade faces a busy street and shows off a delicate stoneware facing, interrupted by smaller balconies.

X-11 Koessler - Floor Plan.

Two separate steel staircases lead to the private terraces on the roof from which one can enjoy a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains.Both are equipped with metal pergolas.

The building was designed to obtain the "CasaClima" certificate, a quality brand issued by the local government to new constructions with low energy costs and low impact on the environment.

View of the apartment building from across the busy street flanking it to the north west.

Credits

• Text by Salvo Di Silvestro, Courtesy of the architect
• Photographs: Courtesy of the architect
• Compiled and edited by Varun Ajani