Description

In Russi, a town of some 12,000 inhabitants west of Ravenna, Italy, a biomass power plant has been built on the site of a former sugar factory. In 2008, a competition was announced for the building of biomass plants on five former sugar factory sites that had shut down following new EU directives on sugar production that came into force in 2006. For the architect Giovanni Vaccarini, it quickly became clear that the design of the shell for the technical equipment would have to address questions of scale, not just due to the sheer dimensions involved, but also because these structures would have an inevitable presence in the flat landscape. In the search for possible camouflage techniques, the architect looked at so-called “razzle dazzle” – striped surfaces placed at angles to one another – as a possible candidate, as it can be translated relatively easily into three dimensions. The strip cultivation pattern in the Po Delta, which dates back to agricultural practices from Roman times, as well as the striped logo of Maccaferri, the then owner of the sites, gave further impetus to the idea.

The effect is surprisingly impressive, especially when approaching from the south, coming from the city. The approximately 110-metre-long and 34-metre-high volume is broken down into a system of what appear to be folded, angular surfaces that reflect the sun differently and break up the visual mass of the large block of the power plant. The use of timber lamella also helps embed the plant in its context, as it is familiar from local wooden facades, albeit at a much smaller scale.

Of both social and spatial significance – and perhaps one day also economically relevant – is the renaturation of the surrounding 28 hectares of outdoor areas, which began alongside the conversion works. Excavation material from the construction of the power plant was used to create a between three and ten-metre-high dune that has been planted with trees and shrubs and helps embed the power station in its surroundings. On the south, facing the city, some storage and ancillary spaces have been placed beneath the embankment to avoid cluttering the overall impression with too many outbuildings. Designed to be publicly accessible, the mound offers a quite impressive view inwards of the wood pellet storage areas, conveyor belts, the remains of the old sugar factory and the new power plant, and outwards, over the ancient cultural landscape of the Po Delta, that large, fertile plain between the Alps and the Apennines.

Originally published in Bauwelt 25.2019, pp. 30-35, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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