Palermo Cultural Centre

Our design proposal for the project `Palermo Cultural Centre´ is based on external factors such as weather, prevailing winds, sunlight, connecting roads, flows and internal movements of people, site location and orientation, existing infrastructure, green space and public areas. At the same time, it considers internal aspects such as occupation strategy and efficiency, building systems, spatial quality related to views, spatial connection, floor to ceiling height, common and public spaces inside and outside the building, allowing for each of the activities to be undertaken. The project was conceived by the initiative of a private foundation, which seeks to create a building of public-private use, giving space for the arts in its various forms, whether in music, art, theater, photography, sculpture, etc.. The Project aims for both quality and quantity, standing out for its environmental awareness, including, from early stages, concepts like energy efficiency, natural functionality and sustainability; and understanding the different variables between a sustainable building from one that is not, such as responsiveness to location and climate, form and mass, the outer casing, internal configuration, environmental systems, energy, water and material selection. It is in this context that the project is designed according to a strict methodology for efficiency and low consumption, pointing to get Silver or Gold LEED® certification. The 5000sqm project located on a 720sqm site, proposes a 4 story building with 6 underground levels, which gives space to a double height theater for 300 people, a restaurant at the ground floor, an art gallery at the second level and administration offices in the last 2 floors. In turn, the roof of the building is a large habitable area to be used by the offices. The idea is also to generate quality of life at work, always related to contact with nature. The project, embedded in an area of strict local regulations, is presented as a metallic structure box, supported on a concrete tray, which allowed us to meet all of the ordinance, thus generating two distinct occupation levels, the public from the street down and private upward. The facade of the building, supported by a metal I-section curved beam structure, contains a double skin, with glass inward and a perforated material that ensures good ventilation to the outside, reducing solar radiation by approximately 60%, decreasing the energy used for air conditioning, cutting down the investment in construction, and generating electricity consumption savings of around 40%, also generating saving in building operations. The connection with the outside comes through the delivery of public space, giving 40% of the site to public use, thus generating a transition between the sidewalk and the interior of the building, while also creating a space for interaction with relevant shops and a coffee shop, which are always sheltered by the volume of the project that floats over the square. At cCe Architects we propose contemporary spaces that allow interaction and are connected to each other and the environment, always guided by our base line of thought which is to achieve higher levels of energy efficiency related to lower consumption, leading to lower global pollution levels and higher energy savings in the medium term.