Southern Italy Waste-to-Energy Plant Design

Our client wanted to solve a problem—current waste disposal methods couldn’t keep up with the annual needs of nearby communities. Their solution? A new waste-to-energy plant. The project is located in an industrial agricultural area, surrounded by olive groves, vineyards, and small fruit trees. The sea and the countryside are close by, elements whose characteristics inspired some of our team’s design choices.

A waste-to-energy plant calls for large architectural volumes. To address that need while intruding on the community as little as possible, our architecture design was wider at the base and narrowed on each higher floor. The color choice of the facades was designed to mitigate the volumes compared to the surrounding environment, and the expanded metal cladding of the main facades gives a sense of movement, forming a semi-transparent skin that lightens the visual impact of the masses. Finally, we designed the external areas, focusing on varied paving solutions that improved stormwater management and reduced environmental impact.

The project proved to be an excellent example of integration between industrial infrastructure and rural landscape. Through careful design choices it was possible to mitigate the visual impact of the system, harmonizing the structure with the surrounding environment and at the same time responding to the functional needs of the complex.