Prato, July 16-22, 2017

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The architecture workshop “Beyond the boundary” is an opportunity to investigate some unsolved urban issues in the territory of Prato. Starting from the area where is situated the building called ex Banci – currently a symbol of urban degradation – and from the axis of the Declassata – a linear system that crosses the city and that represents a key hinge for potential reconfiguration of the ex Banci area – the workshop aims to instigate a general reflection about the ways of correlation of these different themes, as well as those concerning a larger territorial system. The goal is to identify possible solutions in order to build future scenarios where, consistently with the development at the bigger scale, the ex Banci area becomes such a new triggering urban device to foster further territorial transformations. It’s imperative trying to manage these purposes synergically with the desired urban transformations and regeneration dynamics, that will invest the linear system of Declassata and, possibly, the whole territory of Prato. This reflection, as an alternative to the currently state of Declassata and its surrounding architectural and urban heritage, will aim to propose Declassata as a complementary value to manage and develop a controversial territory with a high geopolitical complexity. By intervening on the urban system of Declassata of Prato, discovering its socio-economic attractions, it is possible to give a new role to the city of Prato as an international hub, strengthened by a territorial system that supports its strategic position and its potential intermodal value. Likewise, it also means giving a new infrastructural asset to the urban realities that define the territorial system of Prato, by offering new centralities within its fluxes and proposing new processes that would improve the territorial efficiency.The territory of Prato requires, above all, the recognition of its specificity, defining it and characterizing its aesthetic-geographical value.This is the first needed step to define priorities and strategies for a relaunch of the area. Recognizing the qualities of a territory means also protecting and enhancing them, but at the same time it is an act intended to encourage a critical and proactive reflection on the hindering emergencies.The topics of the workshop will focus on the rethinking of the ex Banci area and its programmatic transformation, into a wider regeneration strategy, which will have to cover the whole linear system of Declassata, related to the urban scale concerns and their possible influence on the architectural and territorial issues.

The workshop wants to promote the cultureof the project as a tool to improve people’s lifes through a medium to long-term vision that, if activated, can change the future development of the city in a concrete and decisive way.

BEYOND THE BOUNDARY

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In order to make the city sustainable, it is necessary to stimulate those actions capable of not harming future generations. This means building scenarios able to go beyond the boundaries, which are not usually taken into account by not enough forward-looking strategies.

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The themes of the workshop will focus on the rethinking of the abandoned industrial area, called exBanci, and its programmatic transformation, into a wider regeneration process that will interest the entire linear metropolitan communication system Florence-Prato-Pistoia called Declassata (a downgraded highway). The issues for those areas need to be considered at urban dimension but they also ask for solutions on the architectural scale, mutually influenced by the territorial realm.

1. INTRODUCTION

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The town of Prato rises along the right bank of the River Bisenzio at the foot of the Calvana Mountains. Several remains of the city have demonstrated the human presence since the Paleolithic age, although there is no certainty of the continuity between the Etruscan-Roman and medieval ages. The beginning of the development of the city is in the VI-V century a. C., when probably the center of exchange was the Etruscan city of Gonfienti. It was located at the center of the two north-south and east-west axes, representing the urban nucleus of reference for the wide area of the plain.A first and important development of the territory was after the creation of the Roman centuration that interested the entire territory of Prato from the 1st century b.C.The medieval age, on the other hand, is the period when most of the urban agglomerations – still present – appeared. The medieval wall defined the city limits up to the industrial boom and the demographic growth of the early twentieth century.Prato began to be an urban core between X and XI century. The strategic position and the presence of the river, that favored the development of manufacturing activity, helped the growth of the city. The plain of Prato was inhabited since Etruscan age,

1.0 PRATO: HISTORY OF A FABRIC-CITY

PRELIMINARY DESIGN DOCUMENTVISIONS AND STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS

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The system of greenery, predominantly agricultural, mainly occupies the part between the agglomerations, the Monte Albano and the Chianti Mountains.Into the plain, the territory of Prato has an almost barycentric position between Pistoia and Florence, although it is closer to the Tuscan capital, almost as if they were a single large diffused city. The urban system of Prato is structured around few recognizable elements, around which the surrounding system is settled. First of all, the historical nucleus enclosed by the walls. It, as mentioned, is lined by Bisenzio and whose directrixes project themselves with their axis up to the whole urban area.The second element, not delimited but filamentous, is the Declassata, along whose path there are some important nodes including the Pecci Museum, ex Banci, Consiag, the Prato Park Shopping Center and some scholastic complexes. This system, as a linear centrality, is reinforced by a series of transversal routes and some secondary parallel axes. In the north-south direction it is crossed by via Roma, via Valentini, via Repubblica and via Nenni, while in the east-west direction via Galcianese and via Pistoiese run alongside to the Declassata, participating at the construction of the territorial network.In the urban structure are also distinguished the three industrial macro lots, configured as citadels in the city, complex worlds made of irregular and uncontrolled aggregations. The town center is surrounded by small villages that are the basis structure for the realization of a polycentric city.

but the birth of the city is traced back to the X century, when there are news of two contiguous but distinct inhabited villages, Borgo al Cornio and Castrum Prati, merged in the followed century. The demographic growth and the urbanization of rural districts, following the development of manufacturing activities, led a great urban growth of the town of Prato between the 12th and 13th centuries and the consequent creation of a new wall circle. The town of Prato succeeded, between ‘200 and ‘300, to ensure space of autonomy thanks to the supremacy of a small but densely populated district, so to overcome in terms of inhabitants the towns of Arezzo and Pistoia. In the 14th century, the city of Florence aimed to transform Prato, which until then was a simple ‘protectorate’, in a more secure and direct property. The city of Prato attempted many times to avoid being under the control of Florence, such as the voluntary submission to Signoria Angioina. Anyway the city of Florence took the control of the city in 1350.In the eighties of the 14th century, another surrounding wall was built. In 1512 the city suffered the sack by Spanish militias, while in 1653 it was finally elevated to the rank of a city. The period around the year 1788 was very important for the textile industry of Prato. In fact, thanks to the entrepreneurial initiative of some people, the city rediscovered a new international dimension in commerce. In 1870, thanks to the use of the first mechanical frames, there was a strong industrial development and an increase in the working class in the wool manufactures. These events provoked strong proletarian tensions in the city between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Consequently a socialist political class arose and it subsequently adhered to fascism. In the postwar period the city was almost exclusively administered from the liberal-left.

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1.1 1.1 READING OF TERRITORIAL AND URBAN STRUCTUREThe city of Prato is located in the territory of the Metropolitan Piana, which includes the cities of Florence, Prato and Pistoia, within the mountainous system of the Tuscan Emilian Apennines, Mount Albano and the Chianti Mountains. This system defines the “environmental room” within which the three urban centers are located, occupying nearly 50% of the entire flat territory with their agglomerations. The agglomeration development over the years followed a dispersive and sprawling process. This kind of evolution produced a system administratively identified in three different areas, but appearing as a single set spread at the foot of the the Apennine. The structure of this environmental room is then characterized by specific geographic elements, in addition to the mountainous and infrastructural systems, such as the river network: Arno is undoubtedly the most important and then the is its affluent Bisenzio, the second in terms of reach. The latter flows through the historical center of Prato and, as the Arno for Florence, it conditioned the structural and economic development of the city.The infrastructure systems that represent the strongest signs are doubtless the railway and motorway lines, that cross the entire plain on the south-east/north-west axis.

This description highlights the ambiguity of Prato: on one hand it aims to be a filamentous infrastructural city like the Declassata, arranged on its linear systems, while on the other it seems a city made of macro and micro nodes connected to each other to form a small constellation.

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SPRAWLENVIRONMENTAL ROOMNETWORKTRACESREGENERATION

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1.2 THE CURRENT PLANNING ACTIONSToday, there is a strong desire to preserve the identity of the city, made of all its heritage. In planning choices, this is the thread that links all strategies and choices. Different interventions are planned for different areas of the city. For “Historical Villages” it is expected to maintain their centrality by increasing all the functions that are important for the citizenship. For the “mixed areas”, the ones characterized by multiple activities, interventions of rehabilitation are planned in order to safeguard the factory city that has always been part of the history of the city of Prato. The Plan envisages that “landscaping complexes”, which are made up of artificial and natural elements, are to be maintained. For “urban center paths”, which are represented by all major public connections, the protection of the most valuable buildings and of all urban space is expected. Analyzing the aspect of regeneration of the city, it emerges the necessity to establish the reuse rules for all the ex-productive heritage: it represents, indeed, the most of the areas available for urban regeneration.

Consequently, countervailing methods are fundamental, ie all those interventions that are intended to produce a greater supply of public spaces. A network of gardens, parks, farmland and forest landscapes are identified, which cross the entire territory of the municipality, linking green spaces with different characteristics and functions. The spaces that characterize this network are governed by regulations and special protection for their importance both from the point of view of connectivity and ecological and environmental. For the mobility system, the plan provides to improve connections with the territory and therefore the railway, the highway and the airport, in order to have even more effective connections. Before the construction of the third freeway, it is planned to upgrade all the tangential axises and the Declassata, the real historical link of the entire metropolitan area between Florence, Prato and Pistoia.

Among the goals, the main are the following ones: the realization of a strong social housing offer, the regeneration of spaces reinterpreting the identity, the protection of the buildings with historical and architectural value and the distribution of functions to favor a social and functional distinction.

1.3 THE TEXTILE DISRTICTThe history of the birth and consolidation of the textile district is a very ancient story connected with the geological conformation of the plain, the presence of water and its exploitation. Between the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th century, where the Bisenzio touches the plain of the Prato, a hydraulic system was created, diverting part of the river water and drawing a series of canals, in order to provide water to the wide plain towards the Ombrone River. About 53 km of canals at the end of 1200 were feeding about 260 buildings. This industrial exploitation system drew Prato towards the design and manufacture of clothes. The propensity of the city to practice the art of wool was prevented during the period of Florentine domination. It was undertaken again with a force never seen, when Prato sum up and took over the rank of city, no longer being just “earth.”In the early twentieth century, the city works and produces fabrics, especially those regenerated from existing woolen fabrics. There are already large pioneering manufacturing complexes that give work for thousands of workers, including Fabbricone, Anonima Calamai, Forti, the Romita factory. The phenomenon was not limited to the city but it was pushed along the riverbed of Bisenzio, toward the municipality of Vernio.The city is always able to adapt itself effectively to impositions and changes in the national and global markets. A relevant example is the invention of regenerated wool, obtained from the already existent woolen clothes. Prato recycled raw materials already at the end of the 19th century and this ability to retrieve projected the city into the global marketplace, providing a lot of clothing to many people.From the 1920s to the 1970s, the city completely changed its productive, social and physical structure. Thus, the productive district of Prato was born. In those years, the city is dizzyingly growing, gaining its workforce mainly from the regions in the south of Italy. In this period its physical connotation changed. The work was so important that space and warehouses for small and medium-sized businesses were present everywhere, creating a truly unique synergy of living and working.In 90s the city faced the market with important investments. To this framework was added the substantial non-EU immigration, occupying the spaces that the textile district left free. Prato hosted about 100 ethnicities, of which the biggest is the Chinese one. While the non-Chinese population occupied the existing labor market of manufacturing, caregivers and building workers, the Chinese formed a large and growing fabric of small companies in the fashion and knitwear sector. These are some numbers to understand the phenomenon: 15% of residents of Prato are foreign, while Italian average is 7.5%.

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1.4 LA DECLASSATAThe Declassata, that in origin was a highway and today is downgraded to a sort of bypass, is a road that still represents an axis, not just a link related to mobility but also a strategic element in the territorial planning, extremely important for the city of Prato. Its position is also crucial for the ex Banci area because it is located in its northern boundary. The period between the two wars is marked by the realization of important works for the city. One of these is the Firenze-Mare highway, which was built between 1928 and 1933. It was thought mainly as an infrasctructure for tourists: “... the motorway Firenze-Montecatini-Viareggio is in fact in the tourist area, into its most varied and most important complex in Italy; Free from traffic that became heavy and dangerous for years, the ordinary streets that connect the largest city of central Italy after Rome, to the largest water station (Montecatini Terme) and to the largest Tirreno beach (Viareggio and the Versilia coast) ... “ . In Prato they criticized this new infrastructure. It was perceived as an obstacle to the development of the south areas of the city, which forced an abandonment of fertile land for agriculture. In the beginning, the highway had not the expected success, despite it was absolutely an innovative work.

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Thanks to the 1954-56 Savioli Plan, a major change for the city was expected: the downgrading of the highway and the realization of a new section at the south of the original one. The new highway section was very important for the development of the city.

From an economic point of view, it was also a fully achievable operation because the areas destined for the new highway were all agricultural and therefore of low expropriation value. Savioli participated at the draft of the new Plan after collaborating between 1949 and 1951 in the development of the PRG in Florence, whose novelty was to frame urban planning issues at the territorial scale. The Plan for Prato is a decisive breakthrough with the past, going beyond the centripetal development of the city and analyzing the complexity of the city around its territory:

“The Plan must not be an extension of the city center, but a program that organizes all the territory from the fortified city to the municipal boundaries ... “. In the years of the Marconi plan of 1961-64 and of the Snozzi-Somigli plan of 1975-81, the axis of the Declassata began to take on the importance and to be an axis, where to place new commercial, directional functions, as a link with neighboring municipalities. Above all, Snozzi and Somigli identified two nodes on the Declassata, where to place specific functions, which should have given a new image to the city. The two poles are one with economic and productive destination, at the intersection with via Cavour, and one with a cultural and congressional purpose in the west of the Republic road.

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The ex Banci area is located in the south of the city of Prato between the historic center and the new section of the Firenze-Mare highway. The downgrading of the old section to a bypass allowed the area to maintain a good position regarding the connections. The Declassata, which marks the northern border of the Ex Banci area, is one of the two main axes of the city. In this area there isn’t the same density built as in the Old Town; In fact, in the first outskirts fo the city, in addition to factories and houses, there are areas for agriculture and large green spaces where the area of ex Banci is immersed. The complex is well served by public transport and also very close to all major communication routes. Less than two kilometers away there is the highway connecting Prato to all over Italy and, just thirteen kilometers away, there is also the international airport of Florence Amerigo Vespucci, which in 2015 accomodated about 2 million passengers. Just over 3 km away there is the central station of the city, which is not part of the high-speed line but still has good connections with the cities of Florence, Bologna and Lucca. It has, according to the latest available data, 4,800 passengers per day. Its strategic position allows it to be an important hinge for the entire national territory.

1.5 THE AREA OF EX BANCI

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The Ex Banci complex consists of six buildings built in an area surrounded by a fir tree fence. This, in turn, is immersed in a vast green park. It has a total area of approximately 156,000 sqm.

The area of the industrial complex is 67,000 square meters and is exactly located in the center of the park. From west to east, the first building (6,153 sqm) is the one that is in the worst conditions. Following the great bad weather wave of 2015, almost half of this building collapsed. The second building (2,004 sqm) only partially still has the roof, but in this case it does not compromise

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the reading of the building as a whole as it is for the previous one. The third building (2,243 sqm) is one of the two better preserved. In front of it there is another building with a chimney (1,440 sqm), which has two posthumous additions to the project and to the original building. The additions are highlighted by bricks, a material different from the stone with which the whole complex is made. Also the architectural composition fo this latter building differs from the rest. Further east, there is another building (4,308 sqm) which presents part of the roof collapsed. The last building (6,150 sqm) has a shape and size that is exactly the same as the first one, although its state is certainly better. This building does not show any collapse of the roof or structures.On the architectural and urban level, some significant aspects that characterize the whole complex and which are its values need to be emphasized. The first element is given precisely by the settlement principle. In fact, the pavilions have a longitudinal axis perpendicular to the Declassata, thus providing a greater permeability to the rural system to the south and offering a porous space to the community that would have worked there. The alternation between the pavilions and the relational spaces in between creates a sequence of spaces, varying according to the size of masses and voids. The perpendicularity of the pavilions to the axis of Declassata confirmed the structural value of the Declassata itself, especially in the original project where the fence was not present and the road was the only element to put together the various elements.From the architectural point of view, the pavilions appear as modernist buildings. The alternation of the concrete for the structural frame, articulating the interior space, and the large glass surfaces, developing between stone blocks, confirm the

influences of Italian rationalism (in some respects attributable to Michelucci) capable of combining modernity with the vernacular. Alongside there is an organicist matrix referring to FL Wright. Almost all the halls are made up of a continuous section, defined by a roof supported by a double order of columns, which divides the space in the three aisles. The punctual frame structure is moved backwards in relation to the external surface, allowing the roof to reach the perimeter of the building through lateral overhangs. This solution allows the continuous facade, such as a curtain wall without structural breaks, except at the corners of the building and in its small intermediate sections. The ex Banci factory is located in the center of a completely green area in a site of the city where there is the so-called “mixitè”. Mixitè was a term by Secchi, found in the draft of the plan for the city between 1993 and 1996, to define an area characterized by a mixture of productive and residential buildings. According to Secchi, precisely here was enclosed the identity of the form of the city and that, consequently, it must have been respected even during the future transformations. The entrance of the ex Banci area is positioned on the part of the Declassata linked by an adjacent secondary road. To the south there are nurseries, which have access from via Ferraris, as well as residential buildings, which are also the most recent ones realized in the area with a height ranging from six to eight floors high. To the east and west the area is adjacent to industrial buildings and dwellings, as well as a newly-built shopping center. This area was largely developed due to the displacement of the highway, since it represented a limit to the development of the city in the south. There is a large public park around the area that is used by all neighborhood residents but not only by them. The factory production activity was organized through pavilions, within which the various stages of processing were carried out. This was probably due to the new production needs and the greater risk of fire due to the new synthetic fiber processing techniques. The construction of the complex was then continued througha series of building concessions that over the years changed

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the planimetric aspect and therefore the original project. Since 1971 no major changes have been made to the settlement. The 1974 was the year that marked the closure and cessation of factory activity and the owner was asked to look for a new use. During the following few years, exhibitions were carried out inside the complex: in 1986 the “Caravanning” exhibition and later the “Textile Machinery Exhibition” were set up. The area becomes property of Consiag (at that time known as the Consortium intercommunal water, gas and public services, but changing name when it passed to the current Estra SpA) in 1996; they decided to establish their new headquarters within the ‘Ex Lanificio Banci, opening in 1999 a competition for the definitive and executive design of its new offices.In 2005 the architect Massimiliano Fuksas made a project on the site, then not realized. The project arose from the idea of Prato as a transforming city, that needed interventions to unlock its potential both from an economic and productive point of view. The project envisioned activities such as an exhibition center and spaces for congresses, a hotel, offices, shops, a park and a part intended for the extension of the Pecci Contemporary Art Museum. The masterplan involved a larger area than that of the ex Banci, including the buildings of the Ex Bigagli laboratories and the green zone in the north part of the Declassata. The center was important both at an interregional and national level, but also connected to the reality of the city. Another aim of the project was to reconnect the separation, represented by the Declassata and the complex of the former Bank. This reconnection was characterized by a public park of eight hectares and a central axis with gardens. The central and most important part of the project was the space for exhibitions and congresses. The project also included two hotel towers of sixty meters high. The exhibition space had to be raised in such a way to create a covered square, very useful for performances, exhibitions or outdoor events. The mobility access system was designed with a parallel road to the Declassata. This choice allowed to absorb major flows in order to not load too much via Ferraris, which was to be a road, conceived to reach the Badie district. Finally, the project envisioned to move partially underground the Declassata so that it would be possible to connect the area of ex Banci with the north green areas andto facilitate the pedestrian connection with the oldest part of the city.

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2. STRATEGIC GOALSThe workshop is an important cultural opportunity to talk about Prato and to highlight some of the issues related to the future development of the city. Talking about Prato and its strategic problems, by giving voice to five different interlocutors, so-called Project Leaders, allows to tackle the proposed topics in an absolutely transversal way. The diversity is always a richness and the five project proposals will be the starting point for the Prato Municipality to adopt new ideas for the new Structural Plan and to assign a new destination to the ex Banci. The projects will address the theme proposed by the workshop on two different scales: firstly at the territorial scale, then on the urban and on the architectural scale.The Declassata is an infrastructure that overtakes the local and communal sectors to reach the regional, metropolitan areas.Its role is crucial to revitalize those urban strategies necessary for Prato; in this way, the city can re-gain the leading position into the socio-cultural-economic context that has always had through the manufacturing district. But a convincing strategy must, first of all, take into account the welfare, linked not only to self-generated needs but above all to its original necessities.The ex Banci was an innovating jewel for the industrial typology. Today it is no longer true, but its refurbishment, linked to training strategies able to attract new investors, can make it a new catalyst center where public and private can find those synergies, useful to create new opportunities.The workshop proposals will allow the areas affected by the project to finally dialogue with the rest of the city, with the historic center, with existing green areas, with abandoned agricultural and industrial areas.The projects must have the power to change the vision and perception not only of what will be actually designed, but also of everything linked to it. A new boundary, a focus of vitalityand transformations.

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From these elements, the proposed strategy is based on some invariant issues that open two possible scenarios, related to the future vision of the Declassata, but in general of the entire city. The areas next to the two toll booths could be used as hubs for the whole system. The two Hubs have two different connotations that undergo few variations in the two scenarios. However, both should be characterized by high density, to allow the concentration of the buildings in correspondence of the gates of the city, avoiding the overloading of the center. At the same time, in these areas are located intermodal junctions, in order to encourage diversified mobility toward the central areas of the city.Intermediate sections are characterized by radically different calling.The section between the Old Town and the East Hub is the hybrid trunk. In this section, the burying of the Declassata related to the historic center would be a fundamental step, in order to facilitate the relationship between the most strengthen northern area and

The Declassata is the structural axis and the fulcrum of the whole system. The proposed vision starts from the identification of the limits of intervention and of the definition of the four sections, structuring the Declassata . The territorial limits for the design are the two toll booth areas, thought as the gates of the city of Prato and of the Declassata.

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the sprawl of the south part. This section is characterized by the presence of some of the city’s modern buildings, which lie along the Declassata, such as ex Banci – a massive abandoned industrial complex and with a high architectural quality – the Pecci Museum and some partially abandoned industrial areas. Here, with the exception of the Pecci, on which more specific information will be given, it will be necessary to work on a functional mix in order to turn some areas into new attractive poles, able to combine productive structures, commercial spaces, housing and tertiary activities. Specifically, a new “Tortona” is planned in the area between S.Giusto and via Nenni, where is possible to think oh the reuse of abandoned urban spaces and buildings in order to mix industrial and craft productive activities with creative workshops and exhibitions spaces for Art and fashion, strengthen by a capillary system of small dining places. In this area could be also feasible to carry out building operations without increasing volumetric consistency.Within the Biagioli Industries Complex, it will be necessary to provide activities in support of existing ones, such as specialized training for operational or management jobs.In the section of the underground Declassata area, in the area called Soccorso, the basic scenario is that of housing, social and private, strengthened by a more general hosting system. This area could become the symbol of cultural integration between the different ethnic groups and cultures that inhabit the territory of Prato, permanently and temporary. The underground section obviously offers the possibility of configuring new public spaces, useful to reconnect the north and south areas. It should be such a system of linear public spaces that connects the three poles, marking the beginning – ex Banci – the center – Biagioli Industry – and the end – the new Tortona – still conceiving it as a single urban set. The section between the “new Tortona” and the West Hub is characterized by the presence of two important nodes, especially in the south, that is, a school complex and a neighboring commercial compound. The rest has a purely rural value. For this section a purely green vocation is expected to be maintained, turning the available areas in three green systems related to the near territorial and urban structure. The closest area to the hub, due to its marginality, is thought as an agricultural park. A larger area that starts at the end of the agricultural park and extends up to the city center, insinuating into the city, is thought as a large urban park. A sort of green city in the consolidated city. Finally, in the scholastic areas it should be designed a green equipped for sport, with the aim of strengthening the existing schools and sports facilities.

2.1 EX BANCIFinally, the ex Banci will need a deeper reflection, because of its architectural quality and its strategic position. The reuse and regeneration hypothesis of the ex Banci moves on multiple possibilities.

First, the proximity of the ex Banci with the Pecci Museum certainly suggests the definition of a program interacting with the Art Industry. However, the economic sustainability of the design must be supported by other activities, that allow other public and private investment and a use not limited of some time slots.For this reason, a functional mix must be envisioned, combining activities related to the art field with those of creative, manufacturing, professional, exhibition and residential sectors. Relating to the latter one, it is appropriate to differentiate the types of housing envisaged.On one hand, the culture of integration should be increased, through hosting centers, on other hand, it’s needed to provide a hospitality system for young people, who are gravitating around the world of art and education. For this reason, a policy of volumetric proportional increasing could be implemented. The idea would be that a greater percentage of spaces for reception and integration should correspond to a greater percentage of volumes. The relationship between these two data may take place in the following ways:

10% hosting and integration/20% increasing of volumetry15% hosting and integration/30% increasing of volumetry20% hosting and integration/40% increasing of volumetry25% hosting and integration/50% increasing of volumetry

However, it will still be necessary to guarantee 10% of public space within the complex. An innovative possibility would be to transform the whole complex into a citadel of energy, to be combined with what already specified, providing the pavilions with appropriate technologies for the production of energy, to be introduced into smart grids. The expected types of intervention should be free and derive from the interpretation of the architectural and urban principles of the complex. The conservation of its primary values will have to guide the design choices and consequently the criteria for maintaining or deleting parts of the settlement.

AXISHUBTRESHOLDBOUNDARYMENDING

Keywords

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2.2 TWO POSSIBLE SCENARIOS

A. Urban and territorial infrastructure

The strategic vision of the entire axis of the Declassata can be implemented according to two different scenarios, related to the timeline of realizations and to the city visions that the city’s government apparatus intends to follow.

A first scenario foresees short-term transformations, confirming for the Declassata its role as urban and extra-urban infrastructure and enhancing its territorial influence.

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B. Ecological corridorA second scenario, which could only take place with a medium-term management policy, follows a more ecological vision of the city.

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This scenario should envisage the possibility of assigning a system of parallel green corridors to the Declassata, along which to slide a green mobility, concentrating the most of the car flow within the Declassata.

This scenario, in fact, involves the transformation of the Declassata into a green corridor, turning the axes, intersecting it, into green sub-corridors. In this direction, the mobility system should be substantially revolutionized.

Along the same axis, strategies for intermodality should be undertaken, thanks to the distribution of joints, which creates the conditions to make transversal connections within the different urban areas. In this scenario, the intersecting part should be activated not only from housing and hosting systems, but it should become a new urban center with the presence of a financial hub. The two Hubs of the city gates would instead be destined for radically different uses. On one hand, the east door, beacuse of the proximity to Pecci and the ex Banci, should host a Hub for Fashion and Art Design; on the other, in the west door, there should be a concentration of ICT activities.

This scenario, in fact, involves the transformation of the Declassata into a green corridor, turning the axes, intersecting it, into green sub-corridors. In this direction, the mobility system should be substantially revolutionized. Two large intermodal junctions should be made at the two hubs, which would significantly reduce the vehicle accessibility of the Declassata, open only to the residents. Within the “green” section, there should be only a green mobility, relying on public transport, carsharing, bikesharing and cycle and pedestrian tracks. The new filamentous “core” of the city could become a symbol of innovation and a model for sustainable cities.

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PEOPLEPROJECT LEADERSVISITING PROFESSORSLECTURERSSCIENTIFIC COMMETTEE

ALFONSO FEMIA, 5+1 AAPROJECT LEADER

Founder of 5+1AA in Genoa, Milan and Paris. Founder and President of 500x100 since 2015. From 1995 to 2000 curator of the book series JA Joshua Architettura. He has been a visiting professor at many international seminars. Between 1993 and 2011, He collaborated in the Design classes at the School of Architecture of Genova. He taught at the KSU of Florence (2001-06) and at the School of Architecture of Ferrara. His works have been published in leading magazines of the field and in international web magazines. He has been invited at several editions of the Venice Biennale, at the ETH of Zurich, at the Italian Institute of Culture in Paris, at the French Institute of Culture in Casablanca, at the Triennale di Milano and at the White Cross Gallery in London. He won prestigious awards, the most recent during the MIPIM of Cannes 2016.

LABICSPROJECT LEADER

Labics was founded in Rome since 2002 by Maria Claudia Clemente and Franesco Isidori. By combining teorethical research and sperimentation, the field of interest of the practice is ecxtended from interior designs to urban design. Labics won several national and international architecture competition, among others the CDU in Milan, the MAST in Bologna and the “Città del Sole” in Rome. Labics received several international awards, among others Iconic Award, Chicago Athenaeum, Inarch-Ance e Dedalo Minosse; in 2015 the office was candidate for Mies van der Rohe Award with two projects. Labics exhibits its works in several architecture exhibition such as 11° e 12° e 14° Biennale di Architettura di Venezia and the Festival Make City of Berlin in 2015. The projects of Labics are published on the most important international architecture magazine.

IOTTI+PAVARANIPROJECT LEADER

The firm is distinguished for creating projects that integrate architectural, town planning and landscaping skills and for its constant research activity. The firm is particularly renowned for design of architectures inserted into high environmental value landscapes and townscapes and based on principles of sustainability. The aim is to identify program capable of producing dense inserts in the landscape in the ongoing attempt to confer new “energies” to the contexts it works in, “energies” in keeping with the often unexpressed potential of the sites themselves. Since its establishment in 2001, the firm has received more then 20 awards in architecture competitions and has gained national and international recognitions, among others, the Award as best young Italian talent in architecture by the Renzo Piano Foundation 2011. 

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ALESSANDRO MARTINELLI, CCU TAIPEIPROJECT LEADER

Alessandro Martinelli, PhD in Architecture, has been involved in research and didactical activities at the Accademia di architettura in Mendrisio, at the Berlage institute in Rotterdam, at the Barcelona Institute of Architecture, at the International Institute of Architecture in Vico Morcote, at the Canadian Centre of Architecture in Montreal, at the Archivio Cattaneo in Cernobbio. Today he is Assistant Professor in Landscape architecture at the Chinese Culture University in Taipei.

BENJAMIN REYNOLDS, AA SCHOOL LONDONPROJECT LEADER

Valle Medina and Benjamin Reynolds are co-founders of Basel-based practice Pa.LaC.E (palacepalace.com). They have been fellows at the Van Eyck Academie and the Koneen Säätiö Foundation and recipients of international prizes, most recently the 50th Central Glass Award (Tokyo). Their work has been shown at amongst others, the Centre of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB), Basis voor Actuele Kunst (BAK) and have contributed to publications including EP (Sternberg Press), Ecocore and Spéciale’Z, Paris.

ROBERTO DI GIULIOVISITING PROFESSOR

Architect, PhD, full professor of Construction Design. Dean of the Department of Architecture of Ferrara, Vice Rector delegate to buildings and properties, Coordinator of the PhD programme in Architecture and Urban Planning. Founding partner of Ipostudio Architetti (Firenze).His activities cover a broad range of issues from studies of building design methodologies to investigation on the innovation of construction technologies and building process management.

FRANCO FARINELLILECTURER

Franco Farinelli taught at the Universities of Geneva, Los Angeles (UCLA), Berkeley and Paris at the Sorbonne and at the Ecole Normale Superieure. He is currently director of the Department of Philosophy and Communication at the University of Bologna, where he teaches Theories and models of the space, and he is president of the Association of Italian Geographers. His latest book is “Urban Consciousness. Political geography essay”, coming out for Einaudi.

MASSIMO VENTURI FERRIOLOLECTURER

He is a philosopher and former Professor of Moral Philosophy and Aesthetics. He worked at the Universities of Urbino, Milano Statale, Heidelberg, Salerno and Milan Polytechnic and lectured at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana in Mexico City, Dumbarton Oaks Institute of Garden and Landscape Studies of Harvard University in Washington. He taught at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and at École Normale Superieure in Paris, at USP Facultade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo Universitade in São Paulo and at Universidad de Santa Fe e Cordoba, Argentina. Currently he is an adjunct professor in the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at Milan Polytechnic. His most recent publication is “Paesaggi in movimento. Per un’estetica della trasformazione”, 2016, Davideapprodi.

FRANCO PURINILECTURER

Born at Isola del Liri in 1941, architect, Franco Purini was a learner of Maurizio Sacripanti and Ludovico Quaroni. From 1966 he has a Studio in Rome with Laura Thermes. He is Professor Emeritus in Architectural and Urban Composition at Unversity La Sapienza of Rome. He also taught at IUAV of Venezia. He is a member of Accademia delle Arti del Disegno di Firenze e dell’Accademia Nazionale di San Luca. In 2013 è was awarded from the Presidency od Republic with the Diploma of Gold Medal of Meritorious of School, Culture and Art. One of his recent work is the Tower Eurosky in Rome. Among his last publications, there is “La misura italiana dell’architettura”, Editori Laterza, Roma-Bari 2008. In 2016 he has awarded the Gold Medal fo the Career at Triennale di Milano.

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MARCO MULAZZANIVISITING PROFESSOR

He is associate professor of History of Architecture at the Ferrara University. Since 1998 he is member of the editorial board of the magazine “Casabella” and curator, until 2009, of Almanacco di Casabella. e has published, among others, the volumes: “I padiglioni della Biennale. Venezia 1887-1988”, Electa 1988, n.e. agg. e riv. 2014; “Guida all’architettura italiana del Novecento”, Electa 1991, 2004, con S. Polano; “Luigi Moretti. Opere e scritti”, Electa 2000, Princeton Architectural Press 2002, con F. Bucci; “Giuseppe Vaccaro”, Electa 2002; “Massimo e Gabriella Carmassi”, Electa 2004; “Ipostudio. La concretezza della modernità”, Electa 2008; “Architettura e paesaggio costruito. Palerm & Tabares de Nava”, Electa 2010; “Architetture, luoghi, Paesaggi. Marco Ciarlo Associati”, Electa 2011; “Werner Tscholl. Architetture/Architekturen, Electa 2013.

CARLO TERPOLILLIVISITING PROFESSOR

Carlo Terpolilli is an architect and Associate Professor of Architectural Design at the University of Florence. Founder of Ipostudio Architects, in Florence since 1984. His field of activity is the relationship between architectural and technological design. He is author of “Progettando edifici – considerazioni sul progetto di architettura come arte della tecnica”, Forma Edizioni, Poggibonsi 2012. His works were awarded in several national and international design competitions and were published several times in Italy and abroad and showed in exhibitions, including the Biennale di Venezia and the Triennale di Milano. Among the most important works, there are the New Entrance to the Careggi Hospital (Directional Center, Faculty of Medicine and Directorate General of the Careggi Hospital) in Florence, The New Museum of Innocents, inaugurated in 2016.

FLAVIANO MARIA LORUSSOVISITING PROFESSOR

Flaviano Maria Lorusso (Gioia del Colle, 1953), graduated in 1977 from the Faculty of Architecture in Florence. He joins the collective of radical architects Zziggurat and in 1978 takes part in the Venice Architecture Biennale. He obtains his PhD and becomes Researcher in Architecture and Urban Design. Full time Associated Professor, he currently delivers lectures in the Architectural Design. Theories and languages of contemporary architecture, urban-architectural renewal, specialized functions and public space are the fields of teaching and professional activities

SAVERIO MECCAVISITING PROFESSOR

He is Full Professor of Building Production at University of Florence and since November 2009 to December 2012 has been Dean of the Faculty of Architecture. Since january 2013, is Dean of new Department of Architecture. Former Research Fellow at the National Council of Research for research on economics and management of building processes, he was Tenured Professor at University of Calabria and University of Pisa (1992-2002). He has also practical experience as an Architect in design and site supervision of conservation projects. He specialises in building techniques and process management and vernacular architecture and earthen architecture in Mediterranean region. Since 2007 he is Director of the Research Center on Innovation and Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems at University of Florence, INN-LINK-S Research Center.

GABRIELE LELLIVISITING PROFESSOR

He is Researcher of Architectural and Urban Composition at the Faculty of Architecture of Ferrara. His research is focused in the field of architecture design, from the scale of the city, through the study of the principles that generate it, to the detail of the small spaces and the small things that determine the atmospheres. He taught at IUAV in Venice, at the Architecture Academy in Mendrisio in Switzerland and in the Basque Country. He collaborated in teaching with M. Zaffagnini, M. Carmassi and was a collaborator for several years of P. Zumthor. He was a lecturer in Italy and abroad. His theoretical-compositional research has been translated mainly in works and projects in the reality of the territory, which obtained national and international awards. He is the founder and owner of the “LBLA + partners” practice.

ALESSANDRO GAIANIVISITING PROFESSOR

Alessandro Gaiani is an architect and lecturer in Architectural Design Labs at the Department of Architecture of Ferrara. Author of numerous scientific publications and winner of design contests, is involved in national and international research on the theory of architectural design and housing.

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BODÀRSCIENTIFIC COMMETTEE

Bodàr is an architectural office and a cultural program within the architectural discipline. The office uses the project as a research device on the idea of the form and on the complexity of space and language that derive from it. The design activity of the office is carried out in the operative nature of the bottega (workshop), where creative production is the main explanatory act of thought. Bodàr participated in several national and international architectural design competitions, receiving awards and prizes including the First Prize for the Cala Gonone Waterfront, the First Prize Ex aequo in “Europan 12” and the International Award “Abitare il Mediterraneo” thanks to the project of the refurbishment of the former Milk Factory in Barcellona P.G.

MDUSCIENTIFIC COMMETTEE

MDU is an architecture firm born in Prato in 2001, consisting of three members: Alessandro Corradini, Cristiano Cosi and Marcello Marchesini who is currently a professor Contract to Ferrara since 2013. MDU received many awards in national and international competition winning, among others, nine first prizes. The results of the debate and the research that MDU is constantly doing by teaching at the university and in the studio, allowed participation in exhibitions and events about the theoretical dimension of architecture. MDU is present in “History of Italian Architecture 1985-2015” (Biraghi-Micheli) and was invited to the 14th edition of the Venice Biennale. Marcello Marchesini graduated in Florence mentored by Aurelio Cortesi, then PhD in Reggio Calabria with Laura Thermes. In 2017 he won, with a short story, the national contest “Territori della Parola”.

NotesLAURA THERMESVISITING PROFESSOR

Laura Thermes, born in 1943, architect, member of the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, was a Full Professor of Architectural and Urban Composition at the Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria, where she was Dean of the Department from 1999 to 2005 and from 1999 to 2014 she was also coordinator of the PhD School of Architectural Design. His teaching work on the theme of the modification of the southern city and the restoration of the landscape in the Calabrian-Sicilian area was documented in the two books: Laura Thermes, “Progetti per il Sud”, Il Poligrafo, Padova 2008 and Laura Thermes, “L’Area Metropolitana dello Stretto”, Gangemi, Roma 2014 both edited by F. Ciappina, A. Russo, G. Scarcella. She is curatorwith F. Berlingieri of the “Guida dell’architettura del Novecento in Calabria”, Kaleidon, Reggio Calabria 2012.

Scientific committeeMDU architettiBODÀR bottega d’architettura

Technical advisorUfficio di Piano del Comune di Prato –Pamela Bracciotti, Francesco Caporaso, Antonella Perretta

Graphic designvariabile

Communication and media relationsECÒL

Webmasterengegno

MasterplansBODÀR bottega d’architettura and MDU architetti: pp. 22, 23, 26, 27

Schemes and drawingsECÒL: pp. 6, 8, 9, 14

ImagesArchivio Ranfagni: p. 21 Andrea Baroncelli: pp. 16, 20Claudia Corrent: pp. 10, 11ECÒL: pp. 5, 7, 15, 17Google Earth: pp. 12, 13Prato Municipality: p. 19

#beyondtheboundaryinfo@beyondtheboundary.itwww.beyondtheboundary.it

Prato, July 16-22, 2017

Under the patronage of The workshop was realized thanks to the fundamental support of

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