Dynamo Camp Onlus formed as an association in 2007 to perform social and health work. It is the first ‘hole in the wall camp’ in Italy, linked to the philanthropic association founded in the United States by Paul Newman in 1987. Inaugurated in summer 2007 at Limestre in the province of Pistoia, Dynamo Camp is still the only Italian summer camp designed and geared to hosting children and young people suffering from serious or chronic pathology while still undergoing treatment or fresh from it. Children between the ages of 7 and 16 are hosted free of charge and are given an opportunity to socialize and have fun in a protected natural environment under constant monitoring and supervision by doctors and qualified staff. Camp activities practise recreational therapy which is based on socialization via play, leisure amusements and sports in a natural setting. The camp occupies what was once the industrial complex of SMI (Società Metallurgica Italiana), later to become Europa Metalli, KME Group. Vincenzo Manes, entrepreneur and director of the Dynamo Camp Foundation, liaised with architect Elio di Franco in converting the site, and set aside 13 million Euros for it, in company with Paul Newman, KME Group and Telecom Progetto Italia. The remaining funds came from public and private foundations, companies and institutions. When they purchased it, the complex consisted of a series of buildings standing rather huddled together owing to the various accretions that had been tacked on. The buildings deemed to be most significant style-wise and most suitable function-wise were preserved, transformed and restored, and the remainder demolished. The general plan was to assign functions to the various constructions so as to help the children find their way about the camp; and to design a practical footpath and road network, restricted in the latter case to electric vehicles. The camp centrepiece is the dining hall, a simple long construction, though painstakingly restored to the last detail. Extensive glazed surfaces reflect and seem to enlarge the bright colourful surrounding landscape; a broadly overhanging copper roof shelters those walking alongside and protects the entranceway. Next to it stands the medical centre, carved out of a cheerful, welcoming, asymmetrical pavilion in exposed metalwork. Further down the hill are an office building and a theatre. To the south lies a cluster of older buildings, one an erstwhile papermill transformed into a laboratory area for photography, ICT, pottery and carpentry. High above all these, the restoration operation is completed by the residential quarters which are lent a note of distinction by a motif of colourful horizontal rectangular apertures. By day these bring natural light inside and a view of the landscape; in return their own lighting filters out by night. Summer 2009 saw the inauguration of a Centre for Recreational Water Therapy. This is an important new facility for camp guests. Occupying a fully covered area of 760 sq. m., it enables Dynamo Camp to extend its programme of activities into the autumn, winter and spring. The structure can accommodate up to 50 people, including staff, and caters for children with very limited motor ability. They can access any part of the pool without needing to use a mechanical arm. The water is warmed by a wood-chip fuelled heating plant. This quality operation, carefully landscaped into beautiful surroundings and supported by a prestige philanthropic association, called for many partners at the construction stage. As well as KME we find Holzbau who saw to the parts in laminated wood, Iscom who provided metal roofing, Astec who supplied bronze alloy windows and doors, and both Targetti and Zumtobel who jointly succeeded in lighting the camp.
