Cooperative Housing, Pontedera

Description

Placed at the western end of Pontedera’s main east–west axis and crossed at mid-length by a pedestrian walkway, the Cooperative Housing project interprets the municipal development plan, which called for a gently curved five-storey building marking the threshold between city and countryside. The constructed building is the result of two consecutive design phases. The first proposal — documented by the physical model — envisioned fewer apartments per floor and an underground level for parking. Its western façade, facing the city, displayed a higher level of complexity: a brick screen cut by 45-degree vertical grooves, punctuated by a sequence of full-height steel columns supporting recessed terraces carved into the building’s profile. On the opposite side, the eastern elevation was defined by a continuous series of tall, slightly splayed openings extending from ground level to the eaves. The need to reduce construction costs led to a substantial revision and simplification of the project. The building’s curvature was reduced; the western elevation was redesigned — replacing the steel columns with rectangular brick piers — while on the eastern side the continuous sequence of vertical cuts was interrupted every two bays by the entrances to the garages. The structure is a reinforced-concrete frame with prefabricated elements, enclosed by brick cavity walls with internal plastered blocks. The ventilated gap and the installation of insulation panels help eliminate thermal bridges and reduce noise transmission. The slightly curved roof is formed by thin corrugated aluminium sheets resting on steel ribs fixed to the slab; its projecting edge defines the deep overhang that protects the façades. The apartments, generally of small to medium size, benefit from dual orientation — triple at the building’s ends — and from at least two recessed loggias. Carved within the volume and screened by the large brick piers, these outdoor rooms protect the interiors from direct sun and rain, while offering generous, sheltered living spaces. During construction, further cost-saving decisions required the elimination of several significant details, such as the marine-plywood shutters conceived in place of standard rolling blinds, the timber-and-glass partitions facing the terraces, and the intended steel-and-glass screens separating kitchens from the living areas. Despite these omissions, the overall clarity of the layout, the coherence of materials and the deliberately oversized full-height openings ensure a strong and recognisable presence, establishing the building as a kind of monumental backdrop against which the anonymous suburban fabric comes to rest.