Novembre Studio and Zamboni Associati were involved by Newlat Food for an urban regeneration project in the historic Corticella district of Bologna.
The project, replacing the existing industrial building, aims to create a new centrality through a large equipped square in which university and elderly people’s residences, public kindergartens, co-working areas and sports facilities coexist, as well as commercial spaces and housing facilities.
The structure is developed in the form of a courtyard around the square, the beating heart of the project. The architectural volume responds to the functional and aesthetic needs of the area by constraining its shape according to the characteristics of the terrain, exposure to the sun and traffic flows.
With its architecture, the new complex will enhance all the district’s mobility, becoming the crossroads of the Navile district’s railway, tram, automobile, bicycle and pedestrian flows and even micro-tourism.
By combining urban planning, architecture and landscape, Corticella is also re-imagined in its connection with the surrounding natural environment. The Navile canal, once a fundamental communication route of the city and a tool for the production of textiles and the source of the ancient thermal waters, is reconnected to the district through a new public space that slopes down from the central courtyard to it.Corticella thus reclaims an important part of its history, often hidden from view and now forgotten, reactivating the relationship with its citizens and offering new spaces for interaction and leisure time.