Sesto Fiorentino Building Image, Italy, Architect, Project, Tuscany Development Photo

Sesto Fiorentino Gymnasium Building

Contemporary Italian Architecture design by Fabio Capanni, Florence

post updated 14 September 2021

Gymnasium, Sesto Fiorentino

Location: near Florence, Tuscany, central Italy

Architects: Fabio Capanni, Florence

TECU Architecture Prize 2007: Commendation

photo from KME Awards (Disk issue) 2007

Sesto Fiorentino Building

TECU® Classic copper plates cover the exterior

Each and every project realized by Leonardo da Vinci, whether a building or a model airplane, was inspired by the human body. As such, this gym on the outskirts of Sesto Fiorentino, near Florence, can be considered a tribute to Leonardo’s work and genius. The copper plates covering the exterior of the gym makes the building look like muscle fibre. Thanks to the nail-less mounting, the plates are free to move and expand in accordance with one of copper’s key characteristic.

The sheets are assembled on a reticular structure made of zinc-coated iron clad with wooden slats and their curvilinearity determines the undulation of the copper ribbons, which are mounted with simple joints, avoiding the use of nails or other fasteners and allowing them to shift according to thermal dilation. In this way, the building is a kind of organic fragment that lives with the seasons almost as if it were a natural element.

Architects: Fabio Capanni Workshop
Location: Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze, Italy
Collaborators: Gabriele Bartocci, Daniele Buzzegoli, Frida Gramaccioni
Structures And Systems: Stefano Palazzesi
Client: Municipality of Sesto Fiorentino
Contractor: IN.G.IOVI. S.r.l. – Afragola (CS), Idroflorence S.r.l. – Badia a Settimo, Scandicci (FI)
Area: 1800 sqm
Date built: 2006

Photography © Christian Richters

Location: Sesto Fiorentino, Tuscany, Italy, southern Europe