Public spaces

The pedestrian bridge and piazza from the balconies of an existing residential block.

Project details

• Project Name: Public spaces
• Location of Site: Collegno (Turin), Italy
• Design Team: Anna Chiara Morandi, Paolo Citterio, Marcello Rossi
• Project Type: Public realm, outdoor spaces
• Client: Collegno Town Hall
• Contractor/s: UTC Collegno, first prize competition
• Site Area: 11.000 sq. m.
• Built-up Area: 11000 sq. m.
• Cost of Construction: 800000 €
• Date of completion: April, 2005

The use of a natural wood (Swedish yellow pine) underlines the closeness to a park and blurs the passage from mineral pavement and natural soil.

Words from the architect

The project was the winning proposal in an international competition. The town of Collegno, located in the area around Turin, within 5 kilometres of the city itself, represents one of those cases in which the architectural disorder of an industrial suburb, built rather hurriedly in the 1960s, now demands the intervention of urban designers able to restore order to time, history and its impetuous architecture. In view of the need to redesign the urban fabric, breaking away from the decay caused by the recent economic recession, the Municipality implemented a series of urban regeneration operations, including the improvement of the public areas in the Oltredora district.

The space at the twilight in autumn.

The project, which received the Rimini IQU 2007 Special Award (Urban Quality Innovation) as the "best plan for design for all", envisaged the creation of a square/parade with a decked area for pausing and getting a glimpse of the urban landscape, a brightly coloured playground, a wooden puppet theatre - the archetypal theme of the roof - for outdoor

The movement of the decking gives a new sense at the place, founding the new public realm.

Children's activities and new play areas. These are just some of the operations that have given a new look to the district, with the aim of finding models able to indicate new areas of potential and new links between the various parts of the district and the town itself. The operations as a whole have not generated a new district, which could only be achieved by means of very different changes, but have suggested better ways of exploiting the existing one, making use of the resources that were previously taken for granted and giving it added meaning.

Detail of the wood platforms.

Few materials are used in this project that is basically a project for the city public realm. The paving exposed to the constant trading are treated with a synthetic coating with a strong chromatic effect. Natural wood is used for the footbridge decking to underlines the passage to the park nearby. Metal fences are used to protect the playground areas and are made of expanded metal mesh with coloured decorations and graphics.

The playgrounds are intended as the new squares for this marginal part of the city.

All the places of intervention are basically pedestrian areas.

The proposed and completed operations represent a minimal investment in terms of economic resources. However, they can pave the way for a process that could lead to the identification and optimisation of the connective fabric of the entire district, making it more open to innovative dynamics, making use of public areas such as schools, squares and parks, and private areas such as commercial enterprises.

A strongly coloured synthetic coating characterized the typical aesthetic effect of the playgrounds.

Existing trees are preserved and integrated in the new configurations.

A little intervention, a public pedestrian ramp, works as a real possibility to change the perception of the urban places, introducing old themes like the "pergola".

The ramp is a support for a concrete tank to recovering the rain water.

The concrete walls support a grid of steel cables for the climbing plants.

Detail of the pedestrian ramp.

Credits

• Text: Paolo Citterio, Anna Chiara Morandi
• Photographs: Anna Chiara Morandi