Restoration of the historical Town Hall of the City of Pelago, FLORENCE

The Municipal authorities of Pelago had two main objectives: to up-date both the historic Town Hall and the pathway leading to Piazza Cavalcanti via the Town Hall and St Gaetano’s Church to ensure they were both fully accessible to all members of the community; to modify a part of the Town Hall so it could be used for cultural activities.
The question of access to the Town Hall was resolved by designing an underground passage that started in Via Ponte Vecchio and concluded beneath the Town Hall in a position where a lift could be installed that would stop at all floors of the Town Hall; slight modifications to the internal quotas of this passageway ensured it linked up to the pathway that skirts the Town Hall and leads to Piazza Cavalcanti.
A new portal – structurally autonomous and completely detached from the old facade – marks the entrance to the underground passageway.
The underground walkway was conceived as an urban “space”; it contains spaces of different shapes, diverse perspectives and conversation or rest areas.

PROJECT DETAILS

Locality: Pelago (Florence)
Client: Pelago Municipal Council
Brief: final design project, working plans, project management
Designed: 2010 – 2011
With: arch. Giulia Cellie, Alberto Roccatelli, SPRING Srl – Manuele Petranelli, GEOECO studio associato