Turin, Italy
Cino Zucchi Architetti’s winning proposal for the renovation of Cavallerizza Reale in Turin aims to revitalize a vital part of the city’s historical center by transforming the existing complex into a new cultural hub for the community.
This new cultural center will host cultural, educational, hospitality, social, and administrative activities while preserving and restoring the Cavallerizza Reale, which was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.
The proposed renewal of the Cavallerizza reinterprets the existing architectures by integrating the intensity of urban life with a collective commitment toward nature.
It will become a new place capable of bringing together different audiences, creating spaces enlivened by new cultural, work and recreational activities: a bold vision articulated in a series of specific interventions, an “acupuncture” in the body of the city that amplifies the character of each part.
The proposed renewal of the Cavallerizza reinterprets the existing architectures by integrating the intensity of urban life with a collective commitment toward nature.
The redesign of the public realm is activated by simple gestures which preserve its original character.
Stone benches, lighting elements, and trees create different opportunities for activities according to the seasons and the events hosted.
New semicircular canopies in oxidized bronze identify the entrances to the various parts.
A small new square is created between the Ala del Mosca and the Pagliere to connect them and act as a vestibule to the Giardini Reali, creating a transition between the “concave” space among the buildings and the green paths under the trees.
The east portico of the new headquarters of the Fondazione in the Ala del Mosca is left open and houses the café terrace connected to the Giardini and the Pagliere by a new portal at its end.
The central position of the atrium and the lifts optimizes the distribution to all floors and enhances the existing monumental staircase.
The modification of the pitch of the roof towards the park allows for the creation of bright workspaces overlooking the greenery and small private patios.
A trapezoidal element added to the west end becomes a lounge-belvedere overlooking the Mole Antonelliana.
The passage between the two existing bodies of the Pagliere is protected by a skylight, and a large multifunctional hall connected to it opens onto the Chiablese passage.
The new roofs and facades are clad in glass and natural oxidized copper sheets including LED screens that communicate ongoing activities and research to the public.
The portions of new architecture inserted in the Cavallerizza do not attempt to mimic the historical forms of the existing one, neither do they fall into an easy “poetics of dissonance” only to exhibit its own discontinuity with respect to them.
They are in ideal continuity with a “Turin Modern” both experimental and sophisticated, capable of not artificially opposing the concepts of “innovation” and “tradition,” but rather creating a dialogue between the vision of at better future and the environmental qualities of the historic city.
Project: Cavallerizza Reale
Architects: Cino Zucchi Architetti with Politecnica Ingegneria ed Architettura
Associate Architect: Valentina Capra
Design Team Cino Zucchi Architetti: Cino Zucchi, Omar Baldin (Project Leader), Giorgio Martellono, Riccardo Orsini, Mattia Ghigo, Michelangelo Sicari, Stefano Goffi, Marina Barbieri, and Luca Onniboni
Space Planning and Layout: Tiemme
Digital Strategies and User Experience Design: Dotdotdot
Participative Processes: Stratosferica
Conservation and Restoration: Alberto Artioli
Renderings: Wolf Visualization Agency
