2007

TWO SQUARES

configuration of the central axis and open spaces of the former Breda industry area - Pistoia

national competition 

               

8th Place

                               

project start date	2007
commissioner	City of Pistoia
location	Pistoia , Italy
architects	Marco Meozzi - Massimo Lastrucci - Alessandro Bagella - Paolo Calamici , Architects
artist	Loris Cecchini
garden consultant	Alessandro Zelari of the 'Garden Zelari' company

 

                                                                                                                            

 

The City of Pistoia announced a competition of ideas to create two urban squares inside the area formerly occupied by the Breda factory.

Considering the vast dimensions of the area, our project called for the creation of a central axis of mechanical distribution made up of moving sidewalks and escalators.

The Municipality had already set aside the entire underground area as the site for a large parking lot, which would serve the entire city; this choice made it impossible to plant suitable trees in the soil and so our project called for the creation of special artificial greenery.

Our ‘suspended cells’ , made up of metallic bubble-like structures, were placed on the ground among a dense series of slender metal poles; on the upper level they could be walked through, allowing spaces for rest and aggregation.

The cells' surfaces were made up of a galvanized metal netting, completely covered by various species of climbing plants.

But if, outdoors, the experience was conceptual, on the inside it was physical, sensory.

Indeed the plants can be touched; the variety of species, their colors and smells, their different life cycles and seasonal periods of bloom (whether they be deciduous or evergreen) can all be experienced.

The cells included several indoor seating areas, as well as a cooling system with vaporized irrigation, sound-proofing from outdoor noises, and music piped into the contained space.

The paths along the ground level are fast-paced: these are spaces of necessity and use, while above the paths are slow: these are spaces for meeting and interaction.

With regard to the two urban squares, we chose a minimal approach. Their added value was, in our view, the re-ordering of the overall system, requiring moments of emptiness, of unconnotated spaces with respect to the dense experiences that occur along the axis.

The pavement, organized along a continual grid of blocks of mixed cement, is an explicit reference to the site's original industrial function.