Project
Interferenze Urbane
Year
2018
Type
Workshop | Designing Desio
Location
Desio, Italy
Team
w/ Alice Brambati
Urban observation and analysis conducted in the city of Desio have allowed to detect widespread critical issues in the general configuration of public spaces, insufficiently attractive in their perceptual dimension. In the urban development scenario the pedestrian still occupies a marginal place; the presence of the car, in subtracting public space and as a privileged means even for small movements, remains a constant.
The design strategy in the historic center is to give urban quality to the path identified by the PGTU as a pedestrian priority area, through "grafts".
In correspondence with the main attractions of the city, including Villa Tittoni, the square of the Basilica and the City Hall, the area of public use seems to expand, while the perception of the main route is reversed. Through expedients such as flooring and urban design, a space has been designed that is configured as cross-cutting interference.
Another issue addressed is the one of "thresholds". A gradual transition from vehicular to pedestrian mobility is prefigured through some anticipatory expedients such as the widening of the pedestrian sidewalk and the public use of the elevated road by food service activities at the expense of parking lots. Till reaching the pedestrian area where the differences in level between the roadway and the area reserved for pedestrians are eliminated. As for the complex of Villa Tittoni, in addition to the strategy of prefiguring a single square including the opposite hemicycle part, the space of the side courts is expected to reactivate, in the face of the presence of the two activities in the side arms of the villa, the library ( already active) and the auditorium (planned).
Along Corso Italia the project goes into detail in the design of two "innesti" (grafts). The first connects the square in front of the Municipality with the park in front, an area which then allows the connection with the park complex of the monumental cemetery. The second, however, connects two buildings that currently do not perform any function since abandoned. In both cases, a transversal pavement prevails where the square is designed through a pavement design composed of alternating bands of mineral material and vegetation, with a number of trees and seats. In the rear part, that of the old hospital complex organized in pavilions, the same concept is taken up and the area is organized into rooms. The proposal to use the head building to the east is to have an Urban Center, a place and meeting point between the administration and citizens.
The intervention in SS Pietro e Paolo district provides, near the high-traffic road of via Milano and near the parish, two platforms with recognizable pavement effective in slowing down traffic and facilitating the crossing for the pedestrian. The project also includes the completion of the rows of trees on the edge of the roadway.
