Revitalization and inclusion drove the design of the SACROCUORE parish multipurpose center
simone subissati architects
Public Space
/
Future
Revitalization and inclusion are the driving ideas behind a project design that mixes multiple functions and stems from a very specific location, the Parish of the Sacred Heart of the Servants of Mary with its historic oratory that for many decades has been attracting the youth of the city. The parish center, located in the Adriatic district, which is the main residential area in the center of Ancona – becomes a multifunctional center with areas for youth and associations. It includes a lounge-pitch, an internal courtyard and a roof terrace. The area belongs to an historic parish situated in a 20th century residential area within the city where at least two generations of youth made use of the sports pitches and a basketball court within an inflatable sports dome. The facility shall be a reference point for a catchment area of over ten thousand people, mainly youth aged 6 to 16, following the historically traditional sports and volunteers associations currently moved elsewhere whilst waiting for the new center. The project involves the construction on two levels - ground floor and basement - consisting of classrooms, communal areas, a multipurpose hall/ pitch, locker rooms, and a roof area originally designed as a parking lot but that will become a roof garden which could also be used a parking lot. The design is aimed at blending the different purposes while giving a soul and a meaning to the complex, reflecting the vocation of the place to be an attractive focal point for youth and an urban backdrop which was desperately needed for years, in a district and a city needing facilities and spaces for youth. The design work moved simultaneously in several directions starting from limitations and constraints resulting from an old past project that we inherited and which led to having the following: 1. a large hall-pitch in the basement 2. a closed facade on the main street due to the presence of the pitch itself; plus other constraints involving old agreements with the adjacent condominium; last but not least budget limitations. The themes we worked on are: - Reconnecting the pre-existing design system with its binding constraints and the creation of a clear whole. - Openness / extroversion VS introversion, characteristic of the old oratories. - Symbology. The Agora Square; The covered market (there is a historical one just in front); the Game, analog and digital. These are references and vital needs that are expressed by the colored steel canopy with its array of pillars supporting and guiding it. The shape of this element is affected by the existing parish building and its "influencing force." The loggia overlooks the main street, attracts and leads inside, creating a covered passage. The dense modular weave of round painted steel pillars is more visible than necessary so that some pillars were removed to create voids, "rooms", places of rest, gathering and cohesion, which also identify entrances and paths. The continual façade on the main street is made of mirrored glass. During the day it reflects the pillars, visually doubling the space under the canopy. In this way, the empty spaces given by the absence of the columns also doubles. They thus become large "rooms" separated in the middle by the reflecting wall. The façade reflects the opposite buildings and people who are invited to approach, to be guided, to come in. It reflects and mirrors the city, the district and the community. It empties the volume makes it inclusive. In the evening, when the lights of the basketball court on the lower level are turned on, the facade becomes transparent, like a luminous screen allowing to see inside, an additional sign of attraction and vitality. The loggia formed by the canopy starting from the street reaches the internal courtyard, passing through the entrance hall. Under such cover, most of the classrooms that communicate directly with the court are located. This element resolves the critical points resulting from the location and the constraints included in the old building permit. The project could be identified as an extreme synthesis in this underlying canopy-curtain wall system. It is a sort of urban installation referring to links that are not semantically so far from certain artistic and conceptual projects such as some works by Studio Azzurro and the Vatican Pavilion of the same studio presented at the 2013 Biennale of Art. As a natural further development of the project, the roof top includes an urban and garden design project together with a graphic project of a square that aims to accommodate the different purposes, including that of parking. Following the projecting roof and the forceful pre-existing elements with the resulting deformations-translations, we designed a square that includes a modular system of planters and Corten seating that rest on a "grid - pitch". Such design also includes the car parks without following a conventional design. Matrixes, modules, play and dynamic features are categories applicable to the complex design.
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The view of the loggia-corridor on the main street. During the day, the mirrored facade doubles the space, reflecting the point structure, people and buildings opposite
Courtesy SSA
The façade with the interior lights on in the afternoon-evening hours becomes transparent and reveals the development of the sporting activity inside
Courtesy SSA
View of the reflective curtain wall which multiplies the pillars and expands the space of the loggia, visually creating a covered square
Courtesy SSA
View from the inner courtyard of the entrance hall. The play given by the combination of reflectance-transparency due to the two types of glass present is evident in the internal joints of the covered path
Courtesy SSA
The loggia-corridor attracts and leads inside by creating a covered passage that leads to the main atrium and to the various entrances
Courtesy SSA
The characteristic coloured metal roof reaches the internal courtyard with the oratory classrooms overlooking it
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Overall "ideal" bird's eye view without the pre-existing oratory building
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Zenith view
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Detail on the garden of the roof square
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The square-garden-parking on the roof
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The main staircase that connects the ground floor to the basement with the lounge-playground
Courtesy SSA
Plan
Courtesy SSA
Roof plan
Courtesy SSA
Ground floor plan
Courtesy SSA
Basement plan
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South elevation
Courtesy SSA
West elevation
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Section A-A
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Section B-B
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Study of matrices, full and empty spaces and paths to arrive at the final configuration
ANCONA
ITALY
CURIA
05/2023
2.200 mq
SIMONE SUBISSATI ARCHITECTS
ARCH. SIMONE SUBISSATI ING. ARCH. ALICE CERIGIONI DOMENICO LAMURA ING. MATTEO VIRGULTI
BC Costruzioni
Curriculum
Simone Subissati Architects is a multidisciplinary research lab of residential and public architecture. It’s finalist for the Mies Van de Rohe Award 2022, takes part in the Architecture Biennale of Venice 2021 - Italian Best Practice Section - obtains numerous publications and covers on Italian and international magazines and an Honorable Mention Compasso d'Oro International Award in 2015.
The training of architect Simone Subissati is from the Florentine school, where he was a pupil by Remo Buti and Gianni Pettena among the founders of the Italian Radical neo-avant-gardes. He specialized in Bioclimatic Architecture and Sustainable Design with Prof. Arch. Marco Sala, one of the first professorships in Italy to deepen these disciplines. He lives and works between Ancona and Milan where he founded the Simone Subissati Architects studio.