Sestainable Project | Eugenio Aglietti

Sestainble Project has a dual ambition: firstly tries to solve a series of problems related to the redevelopment of Sestao and secondly wants to contribute to the reflection about the relationship between environment sustainability and contemporary cities. A sustainable city is not a city of energy savers, but a place where materials, energy and local resources are exploited in a logical way. A sustainable city is a place where there is not a clear distinction between green spaces and not, where the ‘zoning’ is replaced by ‘inclusing’ : the whole city should be considered as a means of public life, which must be extended everywhere. The project is based on an overall design of the master plan obtained as a result of a progressive series of steps where each pass could be explained and justified. The starting point is a simple residential line building, which is modeled by so-called ‘influences’, that are all the stimulus to which architecture is subjected: local topography, exposure, prevailing winds direction, flows, formal and geometric grids and, finally, the architectural language. In this way the line becomes at first narrow and then a series of small towers linked together, horizontally, through roof gardens and with the ground, vertically, through sloping green terraces. This is a way to use the roof as one of the many extensions of public life, that is the pleasure of being able to walk everywhere, within, below and above the buildings. In order to enhance the strong industrial nature of Sestao, was chosen a construction technology able to draw directly from local steelworks. Residential buildings are designed with an internal structure made of steel beams and pillars and a ventilated facade consisting of reflective aluminum panels. some panels were irregularly perforated, so that the joint of several panels on the facades could draw the outline of Basque mountains.