area 111 | zero volume

architect: Cino Zucchi Architetti

location: San Donà di Piave, Italy

year: 2007

San Donà di Piave is a typical medium-sized town in the Veneto region, where the old centre has rapidly surrounded by the physical consequence of a quick and unexpected economic growth in the last thirty years. The form of the plot, surrounded by two to four-floor buildings, has been redesigned and opened towards the south, facing the main street. Next to the entrance the planned parking area has been rotated 90 degrees, taking on the shape of a bean, floored with coloured asphalt and hidden by a dune of earth. A surface of river pebbles thrown into a white concrete mixture unifies the footpaths, whose width, form and altitude changes, turning it into a bench, an auditorium, a fountain, a meeting place for youths, a bicycle track and a picnic area. A wooden fence protects a children’s playground with a spiral development; it is lit by a tall lamp which reminds of a sprout; the fountain is conceived as a series of jets which descend in a stream winding along the slopes of the land. The water is gathered on pavement level in a quiet crescent-shaped pond.
Trees, lamps and benches in white stone crossed by tree trunks contribute to define the space and to create various microclimates with the changing seasons. South of the fountain a number of tree clusters shield benches from the sun, offering a cool resting place in hot summers; a concrete bench winds around an oak, becoming an informal place of a chat or a picnic. The movements of the earth along the eastern and northern edges of the park form a kind of continuous tale which makes the large lawn appear as a protective screen to the north, shielding from traffic noise.
The reflection of the sun on the white pavement changes throughout the day and in the different seasons, forming coloured shades, accentuating the perception of meteorological changes like a large sundial, giving the everyday life of the neighbourhood a natural dimension. The nocturnal illumination underscores the character of the different areas: a series of slender lamps wind along the soft curve of the paths, some lamps in the ground accentuate the reliefs of the pavement, and the tall lamp lighting the playground serves as landmark of the park from the street alongside it. The park has already become a lively meeting place at all hours, hosting relaxed readers, youngsters on mountain bikes, skaters, old ladies who chat and youths who play guitar.

Cino Zucchi was born in Milano in 1955. He graduated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Mass.) in 1978 and at the Politecnico di Milano in 1979, where he is currently Chair Professor of Architectural and Urban Design and member of the teaching board of the Doctorate (Ph.D.) at the Faculty of Architecture – Campus Leonardo of the Politecnico di Milano.
With the Zucchi Architetti studio, of which he is the principal, he has designed and realized many industrial, residential and public buildings, a number of projects for public spaces; renewal of agricultural, industrial and historical areas; participated to many national and international competitions (Opera in Paris, Lützowplatz in Berlin, Garibaldi-Repubblica area in Milano, urban escalators in S. Marino and Bergamo, Borghetto Flaminio in Rome, Tarello park in Brescia, church in Foligno-2nd prize, Contemporary Arts Center in Rome, “City of Cultures” in Milano, Postareal Bahnhof in Salzburg, Cinema in Milano, 1st prize, Europan 3 in Tourin, 1st prize, Church in Sesto S. Giovanni, 1st prize, the East Residential Block in Garibaldi Repubblica area in Milan, 1st prize, the Car Museum renovation and addition in Tourin,  1st prize, the Salewa headquarters in Bozen, 1st prize, the new tourist resort in Andermatt, selected for the D sector, the ”Museo Diocesano” in Milan, the Park Zandweerd in Deventer).