status:
Architecture and Urban Design Competition, Second Prize
year:
2021
place:
Locarno, Switzerland
client:
Municipality of Locarno
with:
baukuh, Christ & Gantenbein
YO design team:
Francesca Benedetto, Carolina Sartori, Cristiana Smorto
area:
7300 m²
description:
The Locarno Castle is a complex ensemble of buildings that can only be transformed by recognizing their multiple history and articulated configurations. It is, therefore, impossible to impose a single and decisive solution for its enhancement; instead, it is necessary to operate through specific interventions coordinated in a unitary strategy. We propose to completely free the first floor of the Castle, recovering its spatial qualities and opening it to a series of possible contemporary uses. We suggest reopening the entrance portal from the Visconti era, activating a new system of accesses and a new internal circulation, which makes the complex accessible to all. The garden overlooking Piazza Remo Rossi is transformed into a public vineyard, planted with tall ornamental vines supported by poles, according to the ancient Ticino tradition, re-proposing a recognizable condition in some historical photographs. This natural environment, a shaded room opening onto the city, is immediately related to the urban sequence that goes from the Muralto station, through Piazza Grande, to the Rotonda, thus introducing the paths leading to the Castle. The Castle approaches the city without excluding visitors, gently manifesting its presence on the main urban sequence of Locarno.
images, from top to bottom:
1. Locarno Castle, plan of the public park and the new access system
2. View of the public vineyard. Image by Filippo Bolognese
3. View of the access for the entire complex. Image by Filippo Bolognese
4. Vintage photographs and representations of the vineyard at the slopes of the Castle
5. Composition sketch, Locarno relationship between old and new city
6. Drawing, public vineyard
7. Drawing, new extra moenia garden
