马泰拉绿洲丨意大利丨Coop Himmelb(l)au

Architect：Coop Himmelb(l)au

Location：Matera, Italy; | ;View Map

Category：Research Facilities

The city of Matera in the south of Italy is located in the unique region of Basilicata and is world-famous for its "Sassi" - ancient housing settlements dug into the rock. Also, the area has always historically been emblematic of calcarenite quarries, the material that characterizes the Sassi di Matera. The issue of rehabilitating the territory’s quarries is the subject of international studies and design ideas. Just 2 km as the crow flies from the city of Matera is a quarry that is no longer operational, which is now to be given a new purpose and opened to the public. Coop Himmelb(l)au is developing new mixed-use building structures based on the long history of Matera.

The Quarry project "Oasis Science Center" on the eastern outskirts of Matera has the role of a pilot project

This will be an important modern icon for sustainable design in this region. The project will be an innovation center for research on nature and sustainability in the upper part of the Murgia National Park (Parco della Murgia Materana). The new Research and Science Center is thus an important gateway to the region, that opens up to the outside world. It is a model for future scientific development and will shape a new way of dealing with the environment.

The development of this project will be a leading example for the ongoing research of green energy, in the form of self-supporting architecture. A combination of new technologies with traditional and local systems will be integrated into the project. Priority themes of the project are nature conservation, energy self-sufficient operation and sustainable tourism. The aim of this project is not to develop a landmark in the traditional sense, but the natural and sustainable integration of the project into the existing structures.

The design for the “Oasis Science Center” is the link between the Parco Regionale della Murgia Materana and the city of Matera. It includes 3 functionally different building structures which are embedded in the flowing landscape. The largest building structure, the Quarry Terraces, is the research and residential cluster. It includes laboratories, co-working spaces and dormitories nestled in the green terraces of the quarry. The second building structure, the Plateau, includes a conference and wellness center, as well as a sundial garden. The third type of building is a Rock Restaurant at the entrance to the quarry, that provides a dining experience for residents and guests. In addition, architectural structures such as an amphitheater or a solar farm are also embedded in the quarry.

The Quarry Terraces

The terraced landscape of the quarry, which was created by the quarrying of stone, is being renatured through targeted interventions with plants from the region. As a result, the wound in the landscape heals, and land is given back to nature with the spectrum of plants typical of this region.

Oasis Science Center

In the south-western area of the quarry, oriented in the same way as the old town of Matera itself, is the “Oasis Science Center” with 7.700 m² of space available for students, researchers, and professors. The Science Center combines accommodation, working spaces, and all additional services such as conference and lectures halls, dining zones, retail as well as administrative and technical support.

Positioned parallel to the Sassi di Matera, the “Oasis Science Center” aims to interoperate the language, materiality and logic of the Sassi’s rich history, while corresponding to contemporary building codes, standards and needs.

The Science Center is divided into three segments by two carved and glazed atriums for vertical circulation. The circulation of the Science Center is a network of horizontal pathways, embedded in the natural topography of the quarry and connected with the atriums. The open-air circulation between the built structures imitates the feeling of walking the streets of the Sassi.

Laboratories and co-working spaces

The Laboratories and co-working spaces consist of a flexible layout of spaces combining working areas with shared facilities, and enjoying indirect sunlight, which is ideal for working spaces. Views stretch out beyond the quarry.

Water collection system

The system of dwellings in the Sassi of Matera has been constructed with prehistoric techniques combining various principles water collection, its capture, percolation and condensation. Inspired by the traditional rainwater harvesting from roofs, we aim to use the Science Centre’s garden surface areas for rainwater collection, using the terraces inclination to direct it towards two underground water reservoirs. The collected rainwater will irrigate the quarry gardens.

Plateau

The quarry plateau level contains the Conference Center, Wellness Center, and Sundial Garden.

Conference Center

The Conference Center consists of 4.000 m² of open-air space, auditorium halls, meeting rooms and additional support services. As important as the enclosed spaces are the voids in between, acting as informal areas for discussions, meetings and exchange of thoughts during the break times. The in-between spaces are open to the sky yet shaded.

Wellness Center

The Wellness Center is positioned in the depth of the plateau built into the rock. It provides a cooled area with soft and natural light offering a uniquely relaxing experience.

Sundial Tower as a central Element

The Sundial Tower is the central element that stretches from the bottom of the pit all the way to the top, showing the space created by human intervention over 40 years of excavating from the ground.

The tower is designed to work both as a sundial element and an energy tower. The sundial tower is 65 m tall with attached weights and positioned in a concrete inclined walls pit. Throughout the day, the energy produced by the solar panels of the energy garden is used to lift the weights to the top of the tower. At night, the released weights descend to the base of the tower, generating kinetic energy used as additional power for the center.

Entrance Area with Rock Restaurant

Positioned right next to the main quarry access road, the restaurant’s main level is embedded in the rock, giving the diners the unique experience of the architectural language of both the city and of the new project.

The Quarry Lower Gardens

Energy Garden

At the heart of the project, the most sun exposed area, is a self-sustaining energy system consisting of 6.452 m² of solar panels. In order not to exclude this area from the usage of the visitors, a tree-like structure is proposed for carrying the solar panels, transferring the energy garden solar field into a shaded canopy that frees the ground for walking.

Amphitheater

Taking advantage of the distance from the city, the existence of a generous parking area and the acoustic potential of the quarry, we propose an Amphitheater of 2.000 seats. It is open to the sky, positioned in the southeast corner where no direct sunlight interferes with the viewer’s experience during daytime concerts.

The "Oasis Science Center" project is intending to be a year-round center for research and development, east of the city of Matera.

With regards to the threatening climate and environmental crisis, it is the order of the day to develop radically new concepts from the view of sustainability and sustainable treatment of nature at all levels of planning and implementation of a project. "Oasis Science Center" is an inclusive project combining the necessary responsibility in dealing with existing resources and nature with the diversity and colorfulness of the regional lifestyle.

Client: Matera Inerti, Matera

Planning: COOP HIMMELB(L)AU Wolf D. Prix & Partner

Design Principal: Wolf dPrix

Managing Partner: Markus Prossnigg (till 04/2022)

Project Partner: Alexander Ott

Design Architect: Shir Katz

Project Coordinator: Angelo Stagno

Project Team: Katharina Kraschitz, Nina Shabalina, Irina Sorokina, Albert Sumin, Poltak Pandjaitan, Shahar Abelson, Barbara Schickermueller, Jan Rancke, Constantin Papachristopoulos, Hamid Abolahrar, Sarah Flößholzer, Stephan Sammer

Structural Engineering: B+G Ingenieure Bollinger und Grohmann, Vienna

Energy design: Energy Design Cody, Graz, Austria

Materials Science Support/Opportunities: Prof. Johannes Weber, Dr. Anthony J. Baragona, University of applied Arts Vienna

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