Piazza della Concordia
Rethinking the urban void to make it be perceived as a multifunctional public space, as a place to spend time pleasantly, as an aggregative and connective space for collective social life.
Located at the limits of the old town, this public space presented the problem of a lack of urban and social identity, having lost over time the classic connotation of the center of meeting and everyday conviviality, typical of the urban element defined as "square". The renovation project is inspired by the analysis of the historical traces found in the old municipal cadastres: through the re-emergence of the urban volumes and voids and a new spatial organization, the square goes back to being a gathering places of Lapedona.
Rediscovering its urban identity, Piazza della Concordia thus returns to being the urban filter between historical and modern, a spatial and social catalyst of everyday life in the town. The study of the existing traces in the square results in the project with the insertion of green areas planted with trees of different sizes, which follow the particles of the old land registers and recall the spatiality that the square had in different eras.
A pavement composed of a regular grid uniforms the entire surface of the square, recalling, with a modern intervention and material (concrete), the ancient pavement of the historic center of Lapedona. The transition between the pavement and the grass does not happen abruptly: there is not a clear distinction between the green and the built, but the two areas are integrated and the borders merge, creating a gradual transition between the two thanks to pixels of concrete alternating with grass.
The street furniture is thought to be an architectural element that dialogues with the rest of the intervention. The new prefabricated concrete benches, with integrated lighting, are positioned at the edges of the green areas, to underline the ancient divisions between the units of old buildings once present in the area.
The square is equipped with a new LED lighting system: in addition to the concrete lighting benches, directional spotlights are placed, recessed in the soil below the trees. To regenerate the walkable surface of the square and restore dignity to the bell tower, headlights are installed with special lenses and diffusers, equipped with appropriate supports in order to guarantee a homogeneous illumination of the pedestrian areas adjacent to the flowerbeds.
To shade the flowerbeds and the seats, but above all to mend the historic urban fabric with the first outskirts and the surrounding nature, arboreal essences of 2 types are planted: tall trees and lower shrubs alternate in the flowerbeds.
If before Piazza della Concordia, with its asphalt floor, was merely an extension of the road with the useful, but limiting, purpose of parking area, today it re-claims the role of social catalyst typical of the traditional Italian square.
