KILOMETRO BLU, URAS

The Kilometro Blu project is a pilot project in the Sardinian panorama that is a pioneer and precursor in the information and use of less polluting fuels and therefore less impactful on the environment compared to traditional ones.
Kilometro Blu will be a new-concept refueling station based on the far-sighted and innovative idea of a progressive detachment from traditional fuels to introduce more eco-friendly and less polluting fuels into the region, such as liquid methane, compressed methane and in the future hydrogen, in addition to electricity produced using renewable sources distributed through charging stations for electric cars.
The filling station will be located in the town of Uras, a town in the Medio Campidano, positioned close to the Strada Statale Carlo Felice (ss 131), the main road artery of the island, which connects the main urban areas of the island, Cagliari and Sassari, to the small and medium-sized towns of the region.
The intervention on display is the first part of a larger project which will also include a hotel and a technological museum, with a view to raising awareness among the population about environmental issues.
From this ambitious idea comes the need to study an iconic image and a “speaking aesthetic”, capable of making the complex immediately recognisable and of recalling, through the slender and sinuous shapes and geometries, the futurist idea of speed, movement and the machine as a pure technological element.
The plant is composed of three main buildings: the Distributor; the Service Station; the parking lot for the Gas Tankers.
The heart of the “Kilometro Blu” project is the shelter protecting the fuel distributor.
The sinuous and tapered shapes, of futuristic origin, propose the idea of movement and speed, unmistakably recalling the romantic idea of the machine.
The architectural composition is developed in the alternation of opaque and translucent surfaces, of metal and glass and is characterised by the slender shape that unfolds on the horizontal plane, tapered at the tip to emphasise the dynamism of the design.
Made of reinforced concrete, supported by three pillars, the shelter is anchored to the ground through a system of ribs which, like Gothic ribs interspersed with glass windows, connect the soft and sinuous shapes of the roof with the ground below.
Complex and harmonious curves, tapering, curved glass, concrete, metal and light also characterise the other buildings in the complex, the service station and the garage for gas tank trailers, creating an internal dialogue on the site and enhancing the technological aspects and elements of the project.
Even these buildings, in fact, will be characterized by strong technological innovation, with extensive use of artificial intelligence and automatic distribution systems.
Light becomes the additional design element and is arranged as a “fil rouge” of the entire complex, giving a strong and technological imprint and characterizing the buildings with a clear and uniform iconic element.