Press Release. 9 February 2017

An “active” villa designed by Alberto Apostoli in the province of Verona

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A private residence was recently completed in the town of Arcole, which produces more energy than it consumes.

This single family house in the countryside east of Verona was designed by Alberto Apostoli, according to the precise wishes of the customer to create an environmentally friendly building, at the same time starting from basic, proportional architectural shapes, fitted together using skill and mastery.

From the architectural point of view, the villa stands out for its essential style and the combination of contemporary architecture and elements typical of the region. In compliance with local regulations, in fact, the building has a pitched roof, does not include large glass surfaces and, in harmony with houses in the district, consists of an aggregation of different volumes, which appear to have been built at different times.

The peculiar aspect of this home is, without a doubt, its very high energy performance, achieved through a

system of cutting-edge technological equipment. This system turns the villa into an active building, in other words the energy produced exceeds that consumed, and with zero emissions, as electricity is the only energy used, with no provision for gas.

A high-performance geothermal pump (8 kW thermal power) provides the air-conditioning, which manages the production of winter heat and summer cooling, with very low energy consumption.

In winter, the pump transfers heat from the subsoil – collected via closed-circuit horizontal probes placed in the garden – by means of heat storage, which can also produce domestic hot water. A radiant floor heating system is connected to the accumulation system.

The windowed area was designed to optimise the exploitation of winter irradiation and for summer shading, which occurs by means of special, suitably sized verandas facing south.

During daytime the geothermal pump is powered by a photovoltaic system of about 12 kWp, equipped with a Li-ion storage battery by Tesla, which also provides energy during the evening and at night.
In summer, the radiant system temperature is maintained by means of direct heat exchange with the geothermal probes. These probes exploit the 13/15 °C underground to suitably cool the water in the system. Dehumidification is controlled by fan coils powered by the heat pump.

The climate control system is based on Elesta brand automation, which uses specially developed software to meticulously control both temperature and humidity in all rooms. The software also provides for the optimisation of plant consumption, taking full advantage of power from the photovoltaic system.For the user, system control is simplified through a web interface available from any device: smartphone, tablet or PC. Once you are connected to the Internet and insert the appropriate access credentials it is possible to manage the system from anywhere.

For the electrical part, entire home automation management is achieved through the KNX system with Ikon supervision, simply via “App” (as well as via the web), allowing complete control of the system. It is possible to turn on, off and adjust the lighting, control electric curtains, enable particular scenarios, handle alarms and check the video surveillance present on the building.

The architect summarises the project: “We wanted to specifically create a legible building as a result of various strong technological and architectural inputs. While on the one hand we have architecture which is rather basic but strongly related to the stylistic features of local tradition and the district concerned, on the other hand we imagined a “motor” using extremely contemporary and innovative technology, the result of the explicit intentions and wishes of the customer.

Overall, a successful project, in terms of the extreme balance between forms, compositional simplicity and technology. A modern building in the true and authentic sense of the word.”