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Lignano Sabbiadoro "The City of Sport", a new and iconic gateway to the city

GEZA Architettura

Urban Planning  /  Future
GEZA Architettura

Designing on the identified area means confronting, on a grand scale, the Great Spiral designed and realized by Marcello D'Olivo. For this reason, the great road axis to the north ideally takes up the design of the spiral, with an inclusive gesture that will immediately give the entire area a strong "Lignanese" identity. The conceptual idea behind the masterplan was to provide Lignano with a true gateway to the city. Like other Adriatic tourist destinations, the initial access to Lignano is currently anonymous and fragmented. Giving identity and offering a specific recognizability to Lignano, integrating this Gateway to the City of Sport, was the first gesture that the Masterplan made on the free areas north of the current entrance roundabout to Pineta, Riviera and Sabbiadoro.

In addition to designing a new and iconic gateway to the city, connecting it directly to the masterplan area, the project identifies and enhances an existing east-west axis. This sign, visible on a large scale and emphasised by the green volumes of the poplars, defines and orders the sequence of the new volumes supporting the sports facilities, stitching together the pre-existing private functions, allowing for the delineation of a future system of ordered settlement, served by infrastructures, and of great overall quality. In the middle of the Boulevard, the central space ("Piazza dello Sport") is redesigned, and will host gyms, fitness/wellness centres, service and catering areas, in the shade of greenery and a new large tent, as already happens in front of the sea in Lignano Pineta.

The Masterplan for the new Sports City in Lignano Sabbiadoro aims to create the foundation for the necessary transition to future sustainable mobility. Parking areas will become hubs for the interchange between private transportation and silent, zero-emission public transport. This sustainable approach also extends to the buildings involved, starting with the multifunctional facility, which can host large indoor events and is covered by over 6,000 square meters of photovoltaic panels. The building is perfectly oriented North-South to optimize its relationship with the sun, relying on indirect sunlight during the day. The structure features four layers, each with a specific bioclimatic and efficiency-enhancing function.

The Masterplan for the new Sports City of Lignano Sabbiadoro (over an area of more than 900,000 square metres) envisages 250,000 square metres of green areas, 25,000 of outdoor and 20,000 indoor sports areas, 50,000 of pedestrian areas and 4,250 new parking spaces, with special attention to road network and sustainable mobility. The project, with public and private participation, also includes new reception areas, services, and, in particular, a multifunctional building with 8,500 seats for sports, concerts and events. It is a sustainable development that will include new sports facilities and services for the city. A very ambitious project that looks ahead to the coming years, creating the necessary direction to plan any future intervention. Sport represents the future of the city, a strongly identifying element capable of welcoming the new generations, major sport companies, but above all families. Competitiveness must be played not only on the level of accommodation numbers, but above all on the quality of space, facilities, and service, increasing attractiveness throughout the year. The project confronts this necessity with large new sports spaces, both covered and uncovered, with easy accessibility, plannable and flexible in time and space, and equipped with the required services. The large multi-purpose hall will be the hub of the whole operation, and will serve as a major driver for future strategies and ideas.

The project not only relates with Marcello D'Olivo's Spiral, but also identifies and enhances three major ecosystems, which shape the landscape of Lignano: the rows of cypress poplars in the countryside; the dunes by the sea; the banks around rivers and canals. This is why the design of the open spaces, attention to tree essences, paving materials, the creation of shady places, are as important as the individual buildings constructed to give harmony to the whole.

Credits

 Lignano Sabbiadoro
 Italia
 Municipality of Lignano Sabbiadoro
 Concerts, Events, Hospitality, Leisure, Sport
 900.000 m2
 Confidential
 Stefano Gri, Piero Zucchi
 Alessia Dorigo (project leader), Matteo Bandiera, Manuel Merlini, Raul Popescu, Emily Rieppi, Matteo Bertazzon

Curriculum

Established in 1999 by Stefano Gri and Piero Zucchi, GEZA Architettura is an architecture firm based in Udine and Treviso, with a reputation for the enduring quality of its projects.

To date our team has completed hundreds of projects and more than 200 clients have trusted our approach and ideas. Among the most notable there are: Furla Progetto Italia, the headquarters of the historic Italian Maison immersed in the Chianti hills, Capua 1880, the regeneration of an historic factory on the strait of Messina, Pratic, a new production and office complex overlooked by the Alps.

GEZA has also won many competitions, with projects such as the masterplan for Silk-Faw EV City, RDE Housing, the Municipal Headquarters of Forni di Sopra, KZK Housing (Kazakhstan), VISTO Sustainable Towers.

Our work is exhibited and published worldwide and has received numerous international awards. In 2023 and 2024 GEZA was noted among the best 25 architecture firms in Italy.

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