Competition for the requalification of Vidigulfo Historic Centre

— STEFANO CORBO STUDIO —

Il Tappeto di Pietra (Stone Carpet) is a urban proposal aimed to rethink the historic centre of Vidigulfo – a small town in Northern Italy – by operating according to a logic of continuity and critical unity with the morphological context.
Its design strategy is based on the sequence of the following points:

1.Re-connection: By connecting, both visually and also physically, the church of the town with its main monument (the medieval Castle), and by creating a pedestrian axis characterized by multiple facilities, Il Tappeto di Pietra transforms the existing artery into a real public space: a place for aggregation and socialization.

2. Inclusion: Despite its apparent homogeneity, Vidigulfo’s urban fabric is characterized by different elements; in particular, the Church and its surrounding buildings form a sort of “island” which is completely disconnected by the everyday flows of the city.
For this reason, Il Tappeto di Pietra breaks such a isolation, and inserts new public functions within the former isolated block. A covered market will be designed and installed in the insula of the Church; collective events and manifestations will take place there, in order to stress the civic character of any operation of design.

3. The square: The irregular space facing the Church will be transformed into a real “piazza”, a centrifugal area that unifies and integrates all the existing elements. A multi-polar system is created, by providing urban furniture, fountains, playgrounds, and public illumination.

4. Re-functionalization: Vidigulfo’s historic centre is today composed of many interstitial spaces and ruined buildings.
Il Tappeto di Pietra reconsiders all of these spaces, by opening up their potential to the population. All of the in-between spaces will be integrated into the design of a homogeneous carpet which will invade the historic fabric; some of the abandoned buildings will be converted into new activities, such as cinemas and civic hall.

5. The stone carpet: In order to re-activate a physical and conceptual homogeneity with the context, a sort of stone carpet will characterize the proposal. Its goal is to integrate within a coherent and unitarian logic all the dispersed fragments composing the historic centre of Vidigulfo today, and at the same time, to build the premises for a controlled future development of the city.