Renaturalisation of the surroundings of Casa Patio 2.12 using ceramic elements

The project to renaturalize the area surrounding Casa Patio 2.12 emerged as an evolution of a prototype conceived for the 2014 Solar Decathlon competition and is now reinterpreted as a built element that transforms a residual space on campus into a meeting place with climate-controlled comfort. The main objective has been to make ceramic pieces the core of an architectural system that no longer simply encloses or clads, but rather creates a microclimate, regulates air quality, and supports vegetation. The intervention area is located on the hard-packed strip that separates the Ada Byron building from the exterior campus space, originally designed as an asphalt surface lacking trees, shade, or other elements that encourage gathering. The intervention reorganizes this void by constructing an expanded courtyard that overflows the original footprint of Casa Patio 2.12 and colonizes the asphalt with a ceramic and plant belt, creating an open, porous, vegetated, and habitable space. Here, exposed ceramic tiles articulate benches, latticework, and perimeters capable of generating environmental well-being without resorting to active climate control systems. The intervention thus acts as a small-scale climate infrastructure, demonstrating the potential of ceramic material as a support for sustainable architecture, adept at the passive management of the Mediterranean climate. Typologically, the project functions as a hybrid space between a plaza, a courtyard, and a garden, designed to accommodate pauses, informal gatherings, and rest periods linked to the academic life of the building. The arrangement of the ceramic benches creates perimeters for lingering, while the latticework, the pergola, and the vegetation create gradients of shade and visual filters that protect from direct sunlight, improve thermal comfort, and lend a more domestic and welcoming scale to the surroundings of the research building.