Many uses, one factory
Competition of ideas for the redevelopment of the former Manifattura Tabacchi of Bari
The former Manifattura Tabacchi is located within the Libertà district, which is the most densely populated in Bari, with a strong presence of young people and foreigners, mainly with a low level of education and a reduced employment rate.
The building density is unbalanced towards the residential function with the consequence of an almost total absence of public spaces, lack of parking and intense vehicular traffic.
The project strategy involves the negation of the hermetic and introverted character of the building complex, transforming the existing closed productive block in a "porous" block; on the other hand, the aim is also the enhancement of the wide internal courtyards, improving their accessibility and guaranteeing their use as an open public space, available to the district.
This objective is pursued through a composite strategy that includes demolition, substitution, insertion of new volumes and a radical redefinition of open spaces.
The recognition of the historical-architectural value of the building complex has suggested the opportunity to demolish some buildings, which have altered the original layout, occupying part of the open spaces.
In the context of demolitions, it is very important to eliminate the fence that currently marks the physical limit of the complex along Via Ravanas. This operation, together with the pedestrianization of the corresponding section of the same route, transforms the original access court into a new large urban square that extends to the fronts built on the other side of the road.
Below the new square, there is an underground car park, organized on two levels, which satisfies the needs of the new activities to be installed and which can significantly offset the need for parking spaces for the residence.
The project also includes the pedestrianization of the terminal stretch of Via Garruba, between Via Ravanas and Via Trevisani, trying to trigger the enhancement of the entire road axis that visually connects the Manufacture with the University.
"Surgical" demolitions also affect the fronts of Via Nicolai and Via Crisanzio, for the portions of buildings located at the intersections between east-west and north-south transects. The substitutions of these portions respond to the desire to "break" the building envelope to make it more permeable and to increase the accesses to the functions contained therein.
In the large courtyard of the western section, the volume of the old thermal power plant gives way to the transparent volume of the CNR greenhouse, which once again leads the great void to an intercommunicating system of symmetrical courts of almost square shape.
On a formal level, the construction of the project starts from the analysis of the composition principles of the entire complex. This is an extremely rational system based on the repetition of modules according to the symmetry and the orthogonality of the tracks. The modular logic governs the structure of each building within it and the composition of the entire complex, providing the rule for determining alignments and plan differences between the various buildings.
The most consistent volumetric insertions concern the new vertical connection system of the central compartment for CNR, the elevated volumes on the buildings along Via Ravanas and the low edifices on the new square that contain the underground parking systems.
The new design volumes share the same surface design of the envelope, based on staggered textures dominated by the vertical lines, while the horizontal ones establish a relationship with the pre-existence facade, taking the lines of the stringcourses and the shutters of the arches.
The translucent volumes superimposed on the heads of the two side buildings that stretch out on Via Ravanas assume a significant role. These buildings define the shape of the new pedestrian square and are the only ones of the whole complex that have one floor above ground. The new elevations are signalling elements on the main front, thanks to the quality of the enclosure, and contain supplementary functions that exploit the terraced floor, as a privileged point of observation of the public space.
