AEM urban heating turin

Architect : Buffi Associés
Client : AEM Torino

Mission HDA : Screen Design Consultant
HDA Team:
Alberto Rubin-Pedrazzo
Fred Bindji
Carla Zaccheddu
Pietro Demontis

Date : 2000 - 2008


The AEM urban heating facility is located in the heart of historic Turin, and such an industrial eyesore needed special architectural treatment to respect the context of the centre.
In collaboration with architect Buffi HDA developed a series of light curved screens to ‘clothe’ the facility. The screens softens the visual edge of the screens but also create a are toroidal shells composed of a series of identical curved ‘arc’ profiles. Clad on a diagonal pattern with stainless steel sheet cladding. The density of the cladding varies from opaque at the base to open at the heads of the shells. This configuration wind flow to diminish the edge loads.
For the dominant 20 m chimney element, a cigar shaped tube is formed from interlocking spirals of steel profiles. Four independent flues are suspended from the summit of the tube.