All for one and one for all!
A red thread that travels through time, from 2020 to 2030.
23.05.2020.
Last article.
It’s a little strange to read these two words. It’s strange because I didn’t think the end would come, the end of the quarantine from Covid-19 (not the university… for that, unfortunately, we should wait quite a while), the end of anxiety and fear of social contact and that tunnel whose light every time seemed more and more distant, but which finally lies right in front of us. Today’s article concludes a university project, realized during the course of New Interiors 2 at the Polytechnic School in Milan, a very interesting and engaging course, which has been able to keep us company in these two months of anxiety and collective fear, through lessons and deliveries that each time pushed us beyond our imagination, to do, undo and redo so that the final result could reach the levels of perfection.
With this “last article” I will tell the fourth and final part of the project carried out by 5 university students for Piazza Tripoli, Milan. In the last post we left with the conclusion of the co-design session, through which we found the final concept to be developed for the Tactical Urbanism project for 2020 and for the 2030 project. These two paths, although they relate to different times, are united by the same goal. Starting from the sense of community and the desire to participate in this initiative, the strategy of the “circle” was born: citizens and designers gather around a round table and work together to complete a path based on the rules of eco-sustainability, understood as lyfe-cicle of materials, but also as a care of nature that is part of this square.
2020’s project.
Per quanto riguarda il progetto dedicato al 2020, la strategia del cerchio viene applicata per poter rispondere alla problematica legata alla prossemica, ma anche alla tematica dell’apprendimento e del gioco. Non ci saremo mai aspettati di dover aggiungere l’elemento della “distanza sociale” all’interno di questo progetto, soprattutto perché i diretti interessati sono cittadini che hanno voglia di stare insieme, di creare un forte senso di appartenenza attraverso iniziative culturali e non… ma non tutto il male viene per nuocere.
In fact, with the use of this geometric shape we have created a colorful pattern on the street, once abusive parking and currently used in the summer by a family of merry-go-round, to give the opportunity to the local community to be able to realize events that involve the installation of stalls. The circles placed on the road, but also on the sports area and the play area, allow adults and children to live everyday life safely, through free-body exercises and role-playing games.
One of the most important elements of this project is the movement of the dog area (near Via Zanzur) in favor of the botanical garden, one of the activities proposed by the citizens during the co-design session and that we did not expect to design. With the use of boxes of fruits and vegetables recovered from the nearby local markets, the arrangement and division of the spaces to grow the vegetables that will be consumed by the residents, whose task will be to take care of them is realized.
But now that we’ve talked about what’s going on inside these bits of the square, what’s going on in Zanzur Street? What has emerged from the latest analysis is the desire to permanently close the road to the machines in favor of greater security in moving from one part of the square to the other. For this reason, it is planned to narrow the roadway (and in this way reduce to a single sense of travel) through the installation of parklets, given also the need to increase the seating spaces inside the square. In order to be able to go against the need to convey the traffic, it was thought to create with a street-art two small roundabouts at the intersection of the two streets, in order to reach the parking lot nearby.
2030’s project
From the parking lot for residents we make a 10-year time trip and move on to the 2030 project, which sees the puzzle of Piazza Tripoli finally completed and framed. What is the glue between all the individual pieces is a red thread that crosses the square and gives it a new face.
Of course, for some this might seem like a very risky and almost wrong move, which goes against that idea of a clean and tidy park, but if you read the next lines you will understand its meaning too.
In the first instance, as mentioned before, it unites and creates a harmony within the space, through a sinuous form that recalls that idea of the circle narrated earlier in the 2020 project, which still pervades after ten years.
It also plays the role of “work of art”, but also that of being a multifunctional object: inside the greenhouse dome, it is used as an irrigation system for cultivated plants; in the parklet on Via Zanzur serves as a shelter through a photovoltaic veil that, in addition to creating shade, provides electricity to charge smartphones and tablets; or as a tool to practice more advanced physical exercises or to apply swings in the play area.
The central space of the square becomes the centerpiece of cultural activities. With the birth of the green hill it will be possible to attend dance, singing and acting performances directly on a natural platform.
Finally, the theme of the circle is also repeated in the theme of the sessions. Through the use of a module created ad hoc, it is planned to make benches and tables made from recycled plastic in ten years thanks to the help of citizens. The fusion of different types of colored plastic will allow you to have unique and unusual seats, with an attractive design and affordable for everyone.
A project certainly out of the ordinary, but that aims to make this square a space where you can live everyday life with different people, exchanging ideas while watering a flower or while watching the children play. A space where you can express yourself, where you can feel at home.
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And like all things, this project has an end, but who said that this is just an end? With the times that go sometimes it is really difficult to hope for something new or something better, but no one can prevent us from continuing to dream and to think that, maybe one day, this project could really give a new life to this Tripoli Square to which we are now fond
Team #8: Reehanul Karim Ashraf Ali, Pierluigi Angelo De Pace, Miriam Ganci, Elisabetta Ralli and Sobhana Suriyaprakash
