Museum Gherdëina
The set of strategies employed in the design make the project a building that, in addition to serving as an identifying element for Ladino culture, embodies the principles of environmental sustainability and energy efficiency.
In fact, the project is based on three founding concepts: the use of traditional and low-impact materials, the use of passive systems for energy containment (double façade as climate regulator and daylight dissipator), and the exploitation of renewable energy (geothermal energy).Wood is the main material of the project and, thanks to its characteristics, is used in the building both as a thermal-insulating and cladding material and as a structural material.
The structures are made entirely of cross-laminated timber, declined differently between vertical and horizontal elements.
Ribbed box elements, ideal for large spans and large loads, were adopted for the decks, while self-supporting modular elements were used for the elevated structures.
Finally, wood, in addition to being a recyclable and reusable material, has a minimal carbon footprint, i.e., the amount of CO2 produced during the manufacture of the product, compared to classic building materials. In addition, wood represents a real reservoir of CO2: in fact, one m3 of wood can store up to 1t of carbon dioxide. In our case, the external envelope has a negative CO2 emission of -195 kg per m2, due to all the wood and low-impact materials used.
This makes it possible to totally offset the production of greenhouse gas emissions related to the use of concrete, glass, and steel, which were used limited to the basement floor and as joining elements for the wooden structure.
