Vestbyen A-B-C-D
13 November 2020
11-Storey Mass Timber Building
3 November 2020

G124 is the group of young professionals who participated in the collective project, carried out by Arch. Renzo Piano, for the redevelopment of peripheral areas.

G124 is Senator Renzo Piano’s working group on the suburbs and the city that will be.

Since he became a senator for life in 2013, the architect Renzo Piano devolves his salary to the mending of the Italian suburbs, giving the opportunity every year to groups of young professionals, located in various cities of Italy, to take part in this great collective project. This year three cities have been chosen: Bologna, Padova and Palermo, thanks to the support of their respective universities.

Location

The chosen project area is Parco XXII Aprile in Modena, in the Crocetta district, located in the north of the city, enclosed between the railway and the ring road. The park, of about 8 hectares, develops longitudinally following a north-south axis.

Services We Provided

Project: “the Shelter”

The intervention area is located in the center of the park, enclosed between the main travel axes. It involves the planting of about 50 new trees that will make up a forest with a circular clearing in the center.

On the edge of the clearing there will be “the shelter“, a small building, a light structure, a roof. The shelter will be composed of modular and repeatable elements, each consisting of four vertical supports, a permeable covering (slatted/perforated) that acts as a sunscreen and a continuous cover. The building fits between the trees and merges with them: the structure must respond to the characteristic of lightness and slenderness.

The Group

The working group is made up of a tutor professor and four young professionals.
The Bologna group is made up of:
Tutor | Prof. Arch. Matteo Agnoletto Associate Professor in Architectural Composition at the University of Bologna.
Young professionals (in order) | Stefano Davolio, Alessia Copelli, Leo Piraccini, Martina Corradini.

https://www.renzopianog124.com/progetti/crocetta-modena/

A visit after 2 years

In October 2023, more than two years after the completion of the facility, we had the opportunity to visit the park, and what we noticed deserves to be highlighted.
First of all, the goal of the project, giving the park a new life, has been achieved perfectly. The park, which before the redevelopment was little used by local families, children and sportsmen, has now become a populated space. The pavilion has become a gathering place where various activities from birthday parties to some religious services are held. Thus, we can say that the city has reclaimed a space that was previously abandoned.

Secondly, we cannot avoid to mention the quality that the pavilion has maintained after these two years. The structure, after all this time in a park where it is fully exposed, has aged very well and has perfectly withstood the passage of time. When we worked on designing the structure we dedicated a lot of time and effort to details which have been so optimized that they have allowed the structure to weather the years very well.

Gallery

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