Headquarters for the Revenue Guard Corps

Albenga, Italy

Headquarters for the Revenue Guard Corps
Albenga-Savona, Italy
2000-2003

Best Design Prize “Cuneo-Savona”, winning project (2004)
Cuneo Savona Prize, First place (2001)

program: Preliminary, definitive and executive design for the headquarters for the Revenue Guard Corps of Albenga, Savona
area: 687 m2
client: Ministero dei Lavori Pubblici, Pr. oo. pp. Liguria, Guardia di Finanza-Comando provinciale di Savona
project: Alfonso Femia * with Pierluigi Feltri
structural engineering: Fabrizio Feltri
services engineering: Sedisform srl, Sticel srl
geology and geotechnics: LGL snc
contractor: Borchi costruzioni
photos: ©E.Caviola
“A public building in Italy cannot represent a waste of resources but at the same time it cannot renounce its public role and therefore its architectural, urban and spatial quality.” AF
The project focuses on quality and inexpensiveness. A public building cannot symbolize a waste of resources, yet, considering its public function, it cannot lack architectural, urban and space quality. The original task was to renovate a pitched-roof shed. The first challenge was to convince the client to have a new building built-up with the same amount. The second one was to harmonize it with the city and the road, although the building had rather small dimensions: the building creates the urban scale of the intervention setting up his relationship with the street front through the articulation of the common spaces.