Re-Hub Wittenberge – Health / Wellness / Food

DONNÉES DE L'ÉQUIPE

Représentant d'équipe : Camillo Magni (IT) – architecte ; Associés : Francesco Nobili (IT), Lucia Paci (IT), Andrea Zecchetti (IT) – architectes
Collaborateur : Mirco Monti (IT) – architecte

via Maffucci 40, 20158 Milano – Italia
+39 023 655 7854 – camillo.magni@gmail.com – www.operastudioarchitetti.it

Voir la liste complète des portraits ici
Voir la page du site ici 

^{C. Magni, L. Paci, F. Nobili and A. Zecchetti}

INTERVIEW (en anglais)

1. How did you form the team for the competition?

When OPERASTUDIO (Camillo Magni and Lucia Paci) decided to participate to Europan 12 for the first time, it involved 2 talented young architects working together on the competition theme.
Francesco Nobili and Andrea Zecchetti studied at the Milano Politecnico where both Camillo Magni and Lucia Paci are professors. Mirco Monti had already been working for OPERASTUDIO for 3 years. Every choice was taken all together: from the project site to every main strategic design and graphic guidelines.

2. How do you define the main issue of your project, insisting on how you answered on this session main topic: adaptability and urban rhythms?

The project's main goal is a huge park for the city, connected to it by pedestrian and cycle paths that pass through it and run along the river. The grain silos are landmarks standing directly on the Elba River and immersed into the park. Recovering the storehouses and just adding 4 new buildings close to adjacent historic ones is a way to mark out the rhythm of the masterplan. We are considering the silos as empty boxes to modify as less as we can, just adding useful volumes for vertical distribution to leave them adaptable to any other future function.

3. How did this issue and the questions raised by the site mutation meet?

The project is closely linked to the site situation. The presence of the river and the derelict grain silos is the main character that already imposes a strong rhythm and personality. The design just marks out these peculiar characteristics.

4. Have you already treated this issue previously and could you present some reference projects that inspired yours?

Yes, we already treated the issue of adaptability and transformation of riverbanks and park. We did it in 2 different projects in 2 sites of the Ticino waterfront in Sesto Calende, Varese, Italy. The first is the renovation and new construction of a Cultural Center and landscape in the ancient city centre. The second is the new construction of a residential complex and the renovation of ship storage.  There is no specific reference project that inspired ours in this case. We are just taking the existing grain silos into account, their rules and rhythm along the riverbanks.

5. Today –within the era of an economic crisis and sustainability– the urban-architectural project should reconsider its production method in time; how did you integrate this issue in your project?

We are integrating this issue in our project considering that the proposal can be realized incrementally in different steps. The priority areas for development are as follows: 

1. The riverside promenade, most important link between the park area and the old town;
2. The level of the garden park, which can accommodate spaces for temporary activities such as team games, concerts, small pavilions for exhibitions, facilities for outdoor activities;
3. The park, characterized by a forest of trees and the activities that take place there;
4. Renovation of grain silos and extensions;
5. New buildings integrating the existing ones.

6. Is it the first time you have been awarded a prize at Europan? How could this help you in your professional career?

Yes, it is the first time. We think this could help our professional career both because it is an important competition and the results are seen all over the continent. And maybe because there can be real opportunities if the Wittenberge Town Council decided to go on with the development of this site project.