Micheletto
Has published an article on 23/10/2023
Redevelopment of Market Square in Brendola
Giving Piazza Mercato in Brendola back its role as a meeting place for citizens, making it the town centre by aiming for maximum sustainability. This is the goal of the redevelopment project that began in June 2021 and was completed after six months of work.
As arch. Irene Pangrazi, the redevelopment requested by the Municipal Administration inevitably went through a series of road safety measures, with the moderation of the speed of crossing traffic and the redefinition of spaces.
The new square presents itself as the cornerstone of the pedestrian routes, an attractive pole for commercial activities, a space of aggregation suitable for socio-cultural and commercial activities such as craft markets, antiques, typical products, cultural events or festivals.
The chosen design solution led to the pedestrianisation of the rectangular area overlooked by the buildings, removing the parking spaces.
The part that had previously been haphazardly occupied by cars was also made predominantly pedestrian, while keeping it practicable for vehicles on special occasions such as the weekly market, or the passage of vehicles loading and unloading goods along a route traced and limited by mechanical bollards.
Micheletto's solutions
"In the large central part, mainly pedestrian," says arch. Irene Pangrazi, "we used the BIG series of self-locking concrete slabs with a thickness of 12 cm in different sizes: 100×100 cm, 50×50 cm, 100×50 cm and 50×25 cm, colour Silver mix, with rectangular inserts - also from the BIG series - for which the company studied a Corten effect that we liked very much.
The great mechanical resistance to high traffic intensity of this solution will make it possible to organise events and shows, as well as the weekly market, without any problems".
"In the surrounding area, which runs alongside the buildings, the Toscana-coloured Via Nova Filter drainage paving was laid instead.
To denote the space around the buildings there are squares composed of black cubes: since Brendola is of volcanic origin, we wanted to take it back as a characteristic of the place, and Micheletto proposed this solution, which picks up on the concept of lava stones".
The main interventions at a glance
The redevelopment of the access spaces in front of the residential and public buildings has made it possible to eliminate all architectural barriers, allowing accessibility for everyone: young people, the elderly, and the physically and visually impaired.
"The main challenge we face in this type of intervention," explains arch. Pangrazi, "is to be faced with very degraded squares that are always occupied by cars.
In this case, the car park has been brought outside: the number of parking spaces has not been reduced, only rationalised and integrated into an overall strategy that favours the spaces strictly necessary for parking to serve the surrounding public and private activities".
The reorganisation of accessibility and the existing road system has made it possible to make the areas intended for pedestrians recognisable and protected.
The lighting was designed to make the environment safer and more attractive, using LED systems for energy containment.
Rain gardens
An important objective of the redevelopment was the recovery of rainwater. The greenery is not only ornamental, but functional with the enhancement of the shaded areas in the 'tree-lined square' and the creation of rain gardens capable of intercepting rainwater from the square and the car parks.
"Around the central pedestrian area, rain gardens have been created, i.e. a kind of depressed flower beds where we have planted trees, which serve to collect rainwater with a first rain drainage system, to channel excess water into an overflow towards the sewer pipe.
Thanks to these systems and the draining capacity of Micheletto's paving, even during heavy downpours there are no stagnations or 'rivulets' of water on the surface of the square: the water runs off and is drained away.
