The project that studio Stefano Boeri Architetti designed for B&T (a company in which Cobar holds an equity interest) and which is located on the Vittorio Veneto waterfront is of great environmental value, designed to guarantee a high quality of life and close contact with nature for those who will inhabit it.

A strong integration between living nature and architecture; a new way of living the city; a different quality of living by implementing the environmental benefits guaranteed by urban forestation, such as reducing the “heat island” effect (i.e., overheating in cities), regulating the microclimate and humidity, and absorbing fine particles and CO2. These are some of the goals of Stefano Boeri Architetti’s new project in Bari. 

Eight storeys high with about 150 apartments of different sizes, from 50 to 150 square meters, serving users of different social and family composition to which are added 10 larger apartments, arranged at the building heads and characterized by the presence of large terraces, and 6 apartments with private gardens. The added value of the project is the presence of plants and trees along the terraces and loggias and in the new park: the selection of essences, which has a total of almost 100 trees and nearly 20 thousand shrubs and plants, takes into account the specific needs of the climatic and environmental context, including high summer temperatures and proximity to the sea. Inserting itself into the local ecological context and inspired by the ” blades,” a natural element widespread in the Apulian landscape, the new park will accommodate shrubs and plants typical of the Mediterranean maquis. A rainwater harvesting system is planned to optimize water conservation.

Internationally, Stefano Boeri Architetti’s project in Bari represents an opportunity to reimagine the prototype of integration between living nature and architecture, first pioneered eight years ago with the Bosco Verticale in Milan, Italy, in terms of reduced housing density. After the Ca’ delle Alzaie projects in Treviso, Palazzo Verde in Antwerp, Belgium, and Bosconavigli (in construction) in Milan-all inspired by a “courtyard” declination of the Bosco Verticale concept – the building that rises in Bari is a unique architectural project for Puglia and Southern Italy.

The project, which stands on a site currently used as a parking lot, fits into the dense and compact urban fabric, in an area that is particularly interesting from the point of view of the city’s development: a key place between nineteenth-century Bari and areas of recent expansion, in strong dialogue with the sea and the historic city of the Libertà and Murat districts.

The volume fits into the plot in relation to the existing buildings and is developed on different levels in order to take advantage of the gradual change in heights (from eight stories on Corso Vittorio Veneto to four on Via Napoli) to create green terraces, enhance the presence of open spaces and encourage the view to the sea, without obstructing it for the buildings around.

One of the objectives of the intervention is precisely to enhance the overall regeneration of the urban context around, thanks in part to the creation of the new green area placed on top of the two parking levels. On the one hand, the presence of trees, shrubs and climbing plants provides a barrier to noise pollution and fine dust, ensuring an increase in biodiversity and an overall improvement in the energy performance of the project. On the other hand, the park becomes a new space that is partly public for Bari, accessible and usable by citizens, with equipped greenery, services and commercial spaces that emphasize the collective dimension and functional mix of the area, and partly private for the use of condominiums.