Residenziale Borgonovo

The Borgonovo Residences (Piacenza), known as the Big Black Building and recently designed by architect Adnan Hijazin, include 19 apartments and a commercial space, with an average size of 60 m² each. The cantilevered main volume, clad with a ventilated porcelain stoneware façade, defines the building’s architectural identity and enables its classification in Energy Class A2.

The use on the façade of the dark, textured Block collection, in the 60x120 cm format, creates a trowelled surface with lux and matte effects and, as architect Hijazin highlights, is crucial to the building’s energy performance: “Its use arises from the need to combine aesthetics, durability, and performance. The dense, non-porous material resists frost, UV rays, and smog, maintaining an even appearance over time and requiring minimal maintenance. The slabs, lightweight and dimensionally stable, integrate perfectly into the ventilated façade system, enhancing safety thanks to their non-combustible nature and offering great compositional freedom.”

Its contribution to energy efficiency is essential: “the air cavity activates the chimney effect, dissipates heat in summer, and preserves insulation in winter, preventing condensation and maintaining constant the thermal inertia of the envelope. This system played a decisive role in achieving Class A2, increasing comfort indoors and reducing consumption. Porcelain stoneware, with its expressive and technical strength, allows the façade to be interpreted as a contemporary and monolithic surface, capable of interacting with light and the urban context.”

Outdoors, Marazzi porcelain stoneware was also used for flooring with Mystone Ardesia, inspired by the sedimentary rock of the same name, in the lighter Cenere shade, highlighting both the material contrast between collections and the functional differentiation of spaces. Ceramic materials were also widely used in the interiors: the Naturalia series in common areas and apartment floors, contrasting with the Vivo collection; the Cementum collection combined with Frammento in bathrooms, favoring a chromatic harmony in green tones.


Ph. Vanni Borghi