N°1 | 2006 THE SIGNIFICANT SPACE

Elements and themes in some contemporary projects

This first item of 2006 we bring to fruition an editorial project which had long been our ambition: architecture and the public space, a subject as fascinating as it is complex.

A variegated panorama of experiences (Lyon, Bordeaux, Nantes, Strasburg, Rotterdam, Bellinzona, Bolzano and Turin, just to mention a few) illustrates the results of well-differentiated urban planning operations. The effects of these go far beyond their own specific sector and involve, in some cases, wide-ranging technological and constructional interventions. An indispensable infrastructure for the civil life of a city, the public space is undergoing transformation, it is returning to life. It is becoming once again the point of reference for important activities, regarding both the cultural traditions and the social customs of the people that inhabit it. The illustration of a wide range of examples revolves substantially around two themes: the reordering of squares, with particular attention towards the compositional strategies and techniques employed on various occasions, and the quest for a specific form for spaces dedicated to movement within the city.

The present study allows us to assert that urban décor is by no means a secondary element in the architectural project. Indeed, it may become an integral part of it and significantly affect its character. The relationship between the object and the place, in fact, is an essentially architectural matter; it is achieved at a level where the single stylistic decision is secondary to the general objective of the transformation of a non-built-up area into an intelligible urban space.

 

INDEX

ARCHITECTURE AND THE PUBLIC SPACE

Elements and themes in some contemporary projects

Piazza Camozzi in Grumello del Monte

The renovation of Piazza San Carlo in Turin

Project for Piazza della Libertà in Cesena

Piazza Tribunale of Bolzano