Library of Peccioli. Geometric porcelain stoneware cladding for expansion

In Peccioli, in the splendid Tuscan countryside, along the route leading from Volterra to Pisa, Pisa-based design studio Heliopolis 21 Architetti Associati rebuilt a nineteenth-century rural building that was reduced to ruins according to contemporary restoration principles and state-of-the-art construction techniques

The total volume of the new building, which houses an avant-garde cultural centre, strictly complies with that of the original complex, clearly distinguishing the spaces corresponding to the nineteenth-century floor plan from those of the extension dating back to the early twentieth century

Essentiallyas a result of subsequent superfetation, the body of the extension was reconstructed to create a highly modern stoichiometric volume that does not merge with the historical volume, but complement sit. The new volume, which observes the principles of truth and distinctiveness dear to Adolf Loos and other recent work by Swiss studio Diener&Diener, suchas the PAsquArt Centre in Biel, was clad in Porcelaingres elements

The design aimed to create a zero-energy-consumption building in compliance with current energy policy guide lines for renovated and reconstructed buildings.The work was planned and completed in just 7 months using an Xlam timber construction. The materials used for styling the interiors and exteriors are consistent with the formal choices and with the objective of limiting Energy consumption

Particular attention was paid to the choice of material for the ventilated wall of the extension. The cladding, in custom-sized stoneware slabs created to a special design by Heliopolis 21, characterises the volume with a laying pattern designed to conceal the direction of cuts and joints. The design of the ashlar pattern and the assembly of the slabswastailored to the building and created by Porcelaingres on the basis of Urban Great in the colour Sand using hydrojet cutting (thickness 6mm).