11 KILOMETERS OF CHAIN…
New Branch of the Cooperative Credit Bank, Fossano, CN

A cascade of chains on the facade, dynamic space, mobile, changing, not what you would expect from a bank, especially in a province at the foot of the Maritime Alps. The branch of this Credit Agency, winner of a closed competition, brings a breath of lightness and a levity that would be more common in a completely different sort of building; an exhibition centre or a performance venue, for example.

Cooperative Credit Bank, image courtesy Studio KUADRA

This bank is stripped of that entire traditional image which characterises an institution of this type and nstead presents a new unedited image of itself.

Surprising and innovative outside, intimate and welcoming inside. Although made up mainly of young people, the Kuadra studio of architects knows how to obtain the very best from the materials they use with rigor and finesse.

Glass, metal and stainless steel are all combined in a clever alchemy that highlights consistency, form, quality and singularity, while never neglecting composition, which remains precise and clean.

The best way to fulfill the needs of the future customers and employees are constantly taken into consideration during the process of the project.

Cooperative Credit Bank, image courtesy Studio KUADRA

Strips of light, transparent staircases and pathways at different levels mean that clients in this bank will not be limited to cueing at the teller's counter. They will have an opportunity to experience an architectural quality that Le Corbusier christened Architectural Promenade.

The architecture seems like an ode to clarity, transparency, to conceptual essence itself, while at the same time never losing sight of that direct functional relationship with the public, not just words from a bank worker's manual, but the real public; an old man, a parent a child, all with differing needs. There is a wide, luminous open informal space given over to a children's' play area, quite a novelty in a bank, besides the obligatory comfortable sofas at the entrance. Wherever one goes from the counters to the meeting rooms one is breathing in that atmosphere of ordinary domesticity that never descends into the banal or predictable.

Cooperative Credit Bank, image courtesy Studio KUADRA

The inclusion of the chains on the façade, 11 linear kilometres, are no mere stylistic or aesthetic pretence, no external second skin. The idea is much more considered. The whole building, changes, shimmers and modifies its physical consistency. The curtain of chains hanging from on high fluctuates lightly letting off a gentle ringing, like Tibetan prayer bells. It captures the light bringing it inside, moulding it, and changing it, thus transforming the massive potentially heavy interior so that the whole building becomes a gigantic semitransparent lamp. In direct sunlight they act as protective sunshades.

Functionality and poetry combined naturally, without being pretentious. The result is surprising.

NB. This project won the "Vuoto a Colmare" competition organised by The Architectural Engineers of Turin and dedicated to work of young up and coming architects.

Cooperative Credit Bank - Floor plans, drawing courtesy Studio KUADRA

+ Project credits / data

Project: New Branch of the Cooperative Credit Bank
Architect: Studio KUADRA
Location: Fossano, CN, Italy

+ All images, drawings and description courtesy Kuadra

In Borgo San Dalmazzo (CN), Italy, Italian architecture studio KUADRA designed the Memorial of Jewish Deportation. The base of the memorial is a concrete slab that has been slightly raised off the ground as if it was the platform for the freight wagons. The platform is surrounded by rocks of different sizes.

Memorial of Jewish Deportation, image courtesy Studio KUADRA

On the platform, the names of the 20 survivors are spelt out in three-dimensional letters in corten steel, while on the ground, 350 plaques commemorate the deportees that did not return from the concentration camps.

Memorial of Jewish Deportation, image courtesy Studio KUADRA

Each prisoner is identified by name, age and nationality as recorded in the camp register. Each family group is separated from the next by an un-cut strip of metal. All the words are written in metal, which over time, will become the same color as the freight wagons, caused by oxidation.

Memorial of Jewish Deportation, image courtesy Studio KUADRA

The memorial is lit up by spot lights positioned at the base of the name pillar of each survivor, while a series of hidden lights, give the illusion that the base is lightly raised with respect to the ground. The wagons are also illuminated at the base by a series of lights placed in the ground in order to highlight their presence. A long red strip on the pavement leads from the adjoining train station, to the access ramp at the memorial where there is a plaque explaining its purpose and the history of what happened there.

Memorial of Jewish Deportation, image courtesy Studio KUADRA

All of the wagons are accessible , although just one has a ramp for those with physical disabilities. Since the memorial is situated between the train line and the main road that leads to the French border from Cuneo, it is highly visible and accessible to the public at all times.

+ Historical Background

Between September 1943 and February 1944 in Borgo San Dalmazzo, a concentration camp was established in the ex-barracks of the Alpini, to detain the Jews that had been taken prisoner near Cuneo.

The majority of them were foreigners. (Polish,Austrian,Turkish,Romanian,Slovenian,Lithuanian,Hungarian,Croa tian,German,Greek and French)

They had fled from all over Europe into the Alpine Valleys where they found refuge until they were captured by the Nazis and taken to the camp.

The first group of prisoners was captured in September 1943 and consisted mainly of foreign Jews. The second group, which was taken in November 1943, was made up mainly of Italian Jews. The prisoners were then transported to another camp in Fossoli and from there were sent on to Auschwitz and Mathausen. The total number of prisoners was 355 of whom only 20 survived.

The camp was in the ex-headquarters of The Alpini, located next to the train station. The prisoners were taken to train station on foot, where they were rounded up and put onto freight wagons.

In the 1980, the city of Borgo San Dalmazzo bought three of the original freight wagons used to transport the prisoners, and placed them in the parking lot on a disused siding. Near by a wooden panel was erected with the names of the deportees to mark the event.

The names of the victims were written on a wooden panel, which no longer exists. Thanks to the creation of the INTERREG project "I Sentieri Della Memoria",whose purpose is to narrate history through historical places, the idea of building a permanent memorial next to the station became reality

+ Project credits / data

Project: Memorial of Jewish Deportation
Architect: Studio KUADRA
Location: Borgo San Dalmazzo (CN), Italy

+ About Kuadra

Kuadra was established in 2001 by Andrea Grottaroli and Roberto Operti. We are a young and multitalented firm providing architectural design (civic, commercial and residential), industrial design and furnishings, interior design (residential, commercial and exhibition stands). We also offer graphic design solutions (from an integrated image for organizations and businesses, to the development of company logos, brands and internet sites). In addition to our professional services for clients, we also participate in many architecture and design competitions, winning many commendations and prizes
for our entries.

+ All images, drawings and description courtesy Kuadra