Social Housing: Living Green

The ever-increasing demand for low-rent housing in Prato determined the need to study a design proposal that had as its strong points both the liveability and the need for a close connection with the existing urban context. The desire to create a large urban park at the service of the entire community determined the need to use a different approach in the design compared to the typical building approach in the Prato area. In fact, this solution makes it possible to control and reduce urban extention by freeing up large spaces on the ground to be used for green areas enriching the entire area. The building´s construction that develop in height aims to create a large density of plants and trees within the city. The use of plants on the façades allows the park to continue vertically, and the polychromy of the leaves, which varies continuously throughout the year, also makes the façades an organism in continuous transformation. This forms a vegetal screen with the task of improving the environmental comfort inside the flats by filtering sunlight, sheltering from the wind and protecting privacy.