Integrated program of intervention including urban planning and design of public spaces, a pedestrian underpass, and buildings for residences, shops and offices.
The project area is located along state highway 38 (Via Stelvio) in the city of Morbegno (SO), near the area covered by the Implementation Plan known as the “former Martinelli area”. Following demolition of decrepit structures once used for heavy industrial manufacturing (production cycles of metallurgy), and the subsequent environmental reclamation, the possibility arose of new edification that would fit into the urban fabric thanks to new modes of access and utilization, in keeping with the outlook of the municipal administration. The project aims at revitalizing the entire “spinal” system of the lower valley, inside a larger environmental system, focusing on the quality of public spaces with a detailed organization of squares and routes. At the same time, it has the goal of launching a necessary renewal of the historical commercial function Morbegno has always had with respect to the entire province, through insertion of a middle-sized commercial complex and identification of a system of highly specialized retailers that can function in a complementary way with respect to the shops already operating in the historical center. The enhancement of the route leading from the monastery complex of Sant’Antonio to the north is accomplished by creating the public space of the “Piazza Est”, a nodal point of a system of public crossing that extends from north to south and from east to west in an area previously excluded from any type of visual or physical utilization. A new pedestrian underpass passes below the Stelvio highway to connect the project area to the city. The project calls for careful reflection on the residential typologies, in a critical reinterpretation of the established courtyard type, making it into a more complex form to interact with an extremely fragmented surrounding context. The space of the western plaza is enhanced by the presence of the medium-sized commercial structure that faces it from a lower level, with an “urban” elevation of high architectural quality. The same quality characterizes the entire building, which aims to “recover” the distinctive characteristics of historic industrial buildings through the use of the shed typology, taken to the scale of a contemporary building. The shed design adds character to the interior spaces, providing zenithal light from the north while generating a complex, jagged profile, in forceful contrast with the anonymous “commercial boxes” found along all the main roads nowadays.

Total surface sqm 24600