Pavaglione courtyard

Design Team: P'ARC (Enrica Dall'Ara, team leader, Matteo Zamagni, Sara Angelini) and stARTT
Agronomic consultant: Paolo Rosetti
Client: Municipality of Lugo
Design Competition: 2012 | First Prize
Detailed Design: 2013
Construction date: 2015-2017

Pavaglione is a huge 18th century quadriporticus located in the heart of Lugo (Italy). Historically, its central courtyard housed one of the biggest markets of Northern Italy along the Silk Road. By the beginning of the 20th century, when Pavaglione gradually lost its commercial and community function, the courtyard turned into a vast, marginal “backyard” despite its downtown setting and architectural value. The project aims at renewing the Pavaglione’s internal courtyard, redefining its urban role, in order to enhance its extraordinary architectural quality and generate a more vibrant public space.
The project reimagines the courtyard as a whole system consisting of two functional spaces, the enchanted garden and the mineral plateau. As in the graffito technique, the surface is engraved with signs: some recall the historical pathways, and others mark new directions encouraging visitors to walk across or stop by. A gentle moulding landform creates comfortable seatings under the trees, while squared benches dot the flat portion of the courtyard, providing intimate spaces. By night, this constellation of elements disappears making room to a dreamlike lighting.