Over the past decades, the Agricultural Cooperative Agri '90 has been making a significant contribution to the conservation of the landscape and environment of the lower Valle del Chiese. As traditional cultivation of "Nostrano Storo" resumed, from which we make fine Polenta flour, large plots, which would have rapidly degraded, were recovered and cultivated.
After an initial experimental phase, which mainly affected areas located in the bottom of the valley (about 320 hectares) more outlying areas have been cultivated, at higher elevations in Val Daone and Val Rendena; and production of small fruits, vegetables and potatoes started alongside the traditional maize cultivation, using innovative farming practices and organic pest control methods.
As years went by and members and contributions increased, the historic mill in via Regensburger at Storo became completely insufficient, and the members felt the need for a new facility which could store, handle and process the products. The project therefore had two great, apparently contrasting, goals, to be met as simply and inexpensively as possible.
Alongside the detailed, functional requirements, the new facility also needed to be in line with the landscape and the environment, principles which the cooperative had always respected. To solve the complex issue, we dealt with it by using some simple criteria as a guide: - separating and dividing up the functions to avoid buildings with too much visual impact; - keeping structures low by vertically differentiating the materials; - locating the vehicle operation yard and grains storage on the back of the building; - using natural materials that clearly fit into the local context but redesigning and reinterpreting their use with contemporary style; the main building groups of the facility therefore are the warehouse, the mill, and the sales building, linked by the lower office buildings.
The buildings are set on full foundations made of wood or white masonry, above which white translucent parts rise, protected from the outside by vertical larch wood shades. On the back of the main buildings a large wooden roof makes it possible to handle and process the products even in bad weather, while the "Storo gold" is held in neat containers on the side towards the mountain.
Besides a mention in Costruire il Trentino 2009/2012, the Agri '90 mill also received an award at the second edition of the international Constructive Alps competition organized by the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein to promote sensitivity among architects and builders to sustainable and innovative architecture throughout the Alps. Four hundred projects from the entire Alpine region took part in this edition. In the first phase of the competition the panel selected 30 finalists, and then chose three winning projects and give seven mentions.
The 30 projects that were selected, published in a special issue of the "Hochparterre" magazine, will be displayed in the "Construtive Alps" exhibition at the Bern museum until September 29, 2013, and in a number of locations across the Alps, including some stops in Merano, Torino, Trento ( I ); Linz, Innsbruck, Salzburg (AT); Ljiubljana (SI).
