Multipurpose building and public square in Gradara

Architects: Mattia Bocchini, Orsola Spada Year: 2020

Location: Gradara, Italy

Lead Architects: Mattia Bocchini, Orsola Spada

Instagram: @am.bocchini

Status: Competition 2nd Prize


 

 

The design of a multipurpose building and a public square starts from the dialogue between the  Gradara’s fortress and the area at the entrance of the city, subject of the redevelopment.

 

Today,  the area designed for intervention is an undefined space without dimensional references, the  proposed building reconciles the urban redevelopment of the existing residential buildings’ need  with proper integration into the topography. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The project idea moves from the need to clarify the intervention area, to establish a relationship  within the place and the functional program through a single building.

 

SECTION

 

The new Architecture is  implemented with a unique and univocal gesture, in its morphology and its matter, creating  different relationships with the context. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The roof of the new building is designed to interpret the open space and to work with pre-existing  houses, and at the same time, it is a square and a panoramic terrace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was essential to the  project to have minimal impact on the landscape, which is why from the upper side it is perceived  only as a boundary wall, which then works with the topography and becomes a building. 

 

 

 

 

On the lower height, the construction interacts with a park and resolves the functional program  with the realisation of a community center, a visitor center, and an underground parking lot. The  flexibility of this program is a means to highlight and reaffirm the public character of the proposal. 

The body of the building — in its firmness — conceals and protects within itself the flexibility of  the program, allowing to persist the passing of time. The whole intervention is designed to be  constructed in red concrete, to create a dialogue between the building and the fortress. 

 

The project aims to become a place for the community, nothing more, nothing less.