Two concepts to unify Piazza Bazzi
The general identity of Tortona Solari district is a place in constant change, where industrial past and creative present often coexist and blend together looking forward an always more sustainable future. In fact in the area only some events during the year are able to bring it to life and make it crowded: Fashion week and Fuorisalone. Despite the Piazza Bazzi site is located in a popular area, well connected to the city centre and with active communities, it lacks of a strong identity. This because nowdays impersonal communication routes as streets are more important than conviviality places. It is the case of the square, that isn’t the result of a meeting place for people as usually is, but it is generated by the meeting of a lot of roads. Streets in this sense don’t let you know the area, but rather cut it into parts, at the public’s expense. Streets presence is only functional to movement but not to the need of society and individuals. The two concepts developed, start from the needs and the problematics of the area we understood from the survey and looking around the surroundings by google street view. One of the goals, common to both concepts, is to unify the space in the soul, although it is physically divided, to make it a well- kept place, open and functional to everybody. A place to stop, rest, have fun, enjoy, break the ice, and start the action. The main subject is the pedestrian, who is captured by the many attraction revolving around the area. For this reason, we get rid of illegal parking slots to obtain more space that can be used in a versatile and multifunctional way creating a provoking reality and a new look. The ambient should be also polyhedric because of the different targets that the area has. It has to be a meeting point for all ages, from old people that visit the area for the presence of the Oratorio S. Maria del Rosario, the adults that frequent the supermarket, young that hang out for sports and night locals, to children that attend Bergognone primary school.It’s essential for a well-developed project that inhabitants continue in time to take care of the area, so is fundamental that they participate in the creation of the space.
“When you own something, it has a meaning and you take care of it”.
CONCEPT 1 - GATE OF CREATION
We focused on what the surrounding is famous nowadays: for the creativity. People that visit the area, go there to see the inventiveness news in design field. To enrich the already existing panorama of the area, we developed the topic of creativity in the world of games. A place where inhabitants have the opportunity to get involved and be designers of their own lifestyle. It makes a call for imagination. People of all ages will be able to play and build an adaptable, colorful and modular structure, that will represent the entrance gate of the Bazzi area. It will become a welcoming and transitional point that connects and integrates it to immediate surroundings. The project attempts to provide different situations, possibilities and views that invite inhabitants to explore and live the playground.
‘A place where children enjoy independent mobility, will be a place where the elderly feel safe. A place where children are free to play — beyond the playground — will be a place for all ages to enjoy together’.
In the area will be possible to play both physical and table games that can be carried out individually or divided in groups. Furthermore common table games for old and young, we insert in our area also games that make you learn as trivia, games coming from other countries, such as Mexican bingo (similar to Italian Tombola but with images), to have a better engaging experience. Talking about movement games it has been nice to discover that there is a profession in design called game designer, people who invent new games, and sometimes transform the virtual one into the real world, as ‘Angry birds in real life’ a way to start from the well-known technology to arrive to reality. In addition to children games, we thought to experience the area and the city even at night, some of them as ‘Quoto’ starts in our area and make you explore the city with sentence to transmute into rebus that other groups have to guess. Other than games there will be different workshop activities with wood, fabric, plants supported by local activities already present in the territory. In the end, we imagined a rest area with tables, benches and hammocks where everybody after hours of play can relax and admire the living community. During the time of intervention of the tactical urbanism design of Piazza Bazzi and Via California, all these activities imagined and many more will alternate following a schedule, to always have a lively area. Few of them will remain present all the period long, such as the result of the starting workshop where inhabitants will be asked to be designer of the area and leave a persistent mark on the territory with the construction of the creative portal that will become the neighborhood’s symbol, but also other streets game with painted part on the ground will remain open all day long.
CONCEPT 2 - BazziCARE
It is focused on sustainable future that along these years is been developing in the district. Natural elements will be used as a barrier that protect people from car traffic. Right now Bazzi square and Via California are three green separated islands in which many activities can be carried out related to the health of individuals. The place invites citizens to discover and use it as a gym for mind and body, through cultural and sport activities. The place is characterized by bike path, greenery, light fitness equipment and social gathering area. Local people are involved in different activities such as open air lessons, learning laboratories, scheduled sport events, workshops focused on recycling and reuse. Via California will host the most dynamic part of the project. In this green promenade there will be the cycle path and an independent work out area fitted with equipment that can support a complete training session. This green promenade start from the future M4 Foppa stop to arrive to Piazza Bazzi, in a way to be linked to the cycle path passing in Via Valparaiso. Bazzi spaces will be used to host pilates, yoga and dance courses dedicated to all ages, from children to the elderly. A place where entertainment and sports come together, serving the community. It won’t be only a place of physical activities, but also related to culture. In one of the two green areas the idea is to create an open air library to be enriched by inhabitants’ books, a place of sharing thoughts. There, it will alternate many activities such as open air cinema, theatre and food events, backed by active groups and community already in the area. Bazzi Square became a place of aggregation, and already existing activities could be hosted in this space, for example farmer’s market, tasting, aperitifs and snacks. The events will alternate and will occupy different time slots so as to entertain everyone at anytime. The events will be related to the theme of sustainability, projections connected to Festival CinemAmbiente are conceived for movie night, laboratory and workshop for the students and children. BazziCARE is a place that is taken care by the community, it unites and brings together citizens of the neighborhood and those who are just passing through, involving them in its spaces and in its activities.
TEAM #5
Mariangela Ippolito, Federica Moioli, Ilaria Pigozzi, Sara Zambotti, Alejandra Zermeño Frias
