Typology: Urban Park
Location: Bergamo (IT)
Year: 2018
Status: Project
The redevelopment project of the former Bergamo railway station has the aim of mending the two parts of the city that nowadays are separated because of the transition of the railway line. The creation of a big urban park with many crossings that integrated the railway and expanded on both sides of it, permitted to solve the problem.
The space was organized defining an orthogonal grid, dense and vibrant in the northern area, distanced and static in the southern part.
The first area is dedicated to entertainment and culture, the second one to agriculture. The northern region is crossed by the tramway that has been my reference axis to structure the grid. It is completely integrated inside the park and tree-lined to create a new urban front liveable and permeable. This front produces two different spaces: one dedicated to entertainment and the other one to culture. The first one is fragmented and characterized by free green areas, cafes, local markets. The second one is more homogeneous and is characterized by a park where three existing buildings – that I decided to regenerate and to reuse as spaces dedicated to culture – arise.
The existing square in front of the station was closed with three buildings and a tree-lined front to create a cosier space. It is mainly pedestrian, except a lane dedicated to tram, one to taxi and one to authorized cars.
The second area, south of the railway, is dedicated to agriculture. It was thought as a big park where isles aimed to urban gardens arise. Each one is a terrace which rises fifty centimetres from the ground and it is delimited on three sides by a canal. There are three gardens typologies: didactic gardens, social gardens, private gardens. The first are big spaces given in management to schools. The second are smaller plots given to people who want to meet and to cultivate something for themselves together. The third are plots given to the families who want to cultivate something organic for themselves.
Another big axis that crosses the site is the Morla river that I decided to open and to let it permeate inside the park. Its banks are free and characterized by a dense masting.
My wish with this project is to give again an importance and a function to this big space, to create a green lung for the city, to give to people a safety valve.