How can an asphalt parking area be turned into a square? How to make this space lively and welcoming, and turn it into a garden for the community?
At the beginning, the square was an asphalted triangle of about 6.500 m2, with two sides where busy roads separated the central space from the built fronts while the third side was contiguous to the historic park of Villa Obizzi, home to the municipal library. At the centre of the square, the sculpture of the ‘Blood Donor’ gives its name to the square, which was a void suitable for cars but inhospitable for people, frequented only during the weekly market and a few civic festivals.
In 2018, the studio won the design competition to create a space “of high architectural quality capable of attracting a community with heterogeneous interests throughout the year,” as stated in the tender, to strengthen the identity of the Villa Obizzi spaces and its ‘Rimembranza’ Park, and to facilitate temporary events and festivals. Thanks to the outcomes of the participatory process involving the municipality, schools, and some local associations, a strong demand for welcoming and safe meeting spaces emerged: a public space open to everyone where people can get to know each other and feel comfortable. This engagement with the local community was of great importance because it allowed for the complete pedestrianization of the area, overcoming some initial resistance to the elimination of parking spaces.
At the urban scale, the project recognizes the intervention area as a central node in the articulated sequence of public spaces and buildings – including the library, schools, and existing parks. It interprets the new square as an opportunity to connect and thereby elevate its status to a territorial reference. The project extended the existing park by creating a large forested area along the west side of the square, planted mainly with Tilia Hybrida Argentea trees, in continuity with the existing ones. The newly depaved area occupies more than a third of the square, linking the park to the north with the garden to the south, thus creating a continuous urban park, over 15.000 m2 with a tree-lined frontage of 180 meters stretching along the main road. A shaded pedestrian walkway crosses through the entire area, offering opportunities along the way for people to pause, such as the ‘Blood Donor’ monument relocation in a flowered lawn, and the coffee pavilion, designed as an amenity serving the square: a reason for visiting the place and ensuring its presence. The presence of vegetation in the area shades the paths and the resting spaces in the new square. Furthermore, the trees and plantings retain water and moisture in the soil, performing an important ecosystem service of lowering surface temperature. These solutions, combined with the decision of light-toned stone materials for the square’s paving, can reduce the heat island effect on hot summer days. The project significantly reduces impermeable surfaces (about 1/3 of the area) in favour of a permeable and living soil, which over time promotes greater. The walkway is raised and has a sinuous layout to prioritize the viewpoint of passers-by, encourage active mobility, and protect square users from the road. Additionally, this elevation difference facilitates the construction of continuous wooden seating along its entire length. The slope of the stone paving, made of Porphyry and Luserna stone, and the design with parallel strips emphasize the presence of the Villa, allowing for the collection and storage of rainwater. The space allows for various uses, both with meeting areas for everyday life, such as the café pavilion, and areas for children’s play attracted by the fountain, as well as a space for temporary events for which dedicated installations and lighting have been provided.
The environmental dimension of the project is rooted in the principles of Nature Based Solutions, tackling the challenges associated with fostering sustainability in urban spaces: depaving asphalt surfaces in favour of living soil; collecting and reusing rainwater on-site; recovering materials from demolitions as sub-floors for pavements; building the wooden pavilion leased to young entrepreneurs. These decisions have led to enhanced soil permeability, increased urban forestation, mitigation of the heat island effect, reduced waste from demolition, and boosted youth employment in line with the objectives of the European Agenda. Urban and environmental projects support each other in this work, which lasted a total of two years. The realization of ‘Piazza del Donatore di Sangue’, completed in the summer of 2020, returns to the community an attractive and lively place, designed for both daily use by its inhabitants and able to host events and festivals: Albignasego’s first pedestrian zone.
Depaving and Urban Reforestation: a Square in a Garden in Albignasego, Padua, Italy
Architecture office involved in the design:
Studio Archpiùdue, Paolo Miotto Mauro Sarti Architetti Associati
Paolo Miotto, Architect
Mauro Sarti, Architect
Luca Nicoletto, Architect
Maria Rosa Beda, Architect
Collaborator: Maria Cigliano, Architect
Other landscape architecture offices involved in the design of landscape:
Pamela Nichele, Agronomist
Location:
Albignasego, Padova, Italy
Design Year:
2018
Year Completed:
2020
