3.3. Service Area Users| Inhabitants and Travelers

Service Area Users | Inhabitants and Travelers

The service area of A7 Motorway in Valley Scrivia has two ways to access. The first and most obvious is the A7 road itself by car, people who access this road at the moment do so to load gasoline and immediately continue with their trip.

The second way to enter the service area could be by walking through the town of Vocemola on the west side or the east side (III. 57). On the east side, alsoseems to be an emergency access for cars, this access is restricted with a metal door (III. X) that will specifically allow garbage collection trucks or some other service or emergency vehicle such as an ambulance to enter. Currently, the inhabitants of Vocemola can cross from one side of the road to the other through a very narrow vehicular underpass.

In short, being a service area of the A7 Motorway (which is accessed through a toll), it cannot allow other cars to access the highway in a transversal way, nor can be used for drivers to change to the opposite direction. For this reason, the inhabitants of Vocemola can enter the service area only by walking, although nowadays no inhabitant of Vocemola has any excuse or event that happens in the service area that motivates them to enter there.

Given the above, we could conclude that the role of the service area nowadays has contributed to the fragility of the territory, as it is unattractive and obstructing.

The aim of this thesis is to propose an intervention so that Vocemola Service Area is no longer a weakness but an opportunity. Turning it in a place of crosss connection between the east and the west of the A7 Motorway, thus creating a direct and recreational access to one of the mountains of the valley.

Current access to Service Area from Vocemola:

WEST SIDE OF SERVICE AREA

EAST SIDE OF SERVICE AREA

Pedestrian Vehicular (restricted)

III. 57

W E

W E

Current Proposed

III. 58

III. 57 (2011). Google Maps views of west and east pedestrian entrance to Valley Scrivia A7 Motorway Service Area. III. 58 Handmade drawing by the author. Diagrams of current and propose pedestrian and vehicle accessibility to Valley Scrivia A7 Motorway Service Area.

III. 59

III. 59 Edited by the author. Heat map of Valley Scrivia A7 Motorway Service Area.

Giving the Service Area Intervention to the 126 Vocemola inhabitants

In the heat map (on the left), you can see the current situation of access to the service area, which can be summarized as an obstacle for Vocemola and a source of passage for motorway drivers.

Through this project, the idea is to create in-between architecture, that in addition to attracting travelers to the place, will create a strong and accessible connection between west Vocemola and the natural context on the east side of the road. By making this, the event or excuse for residents to come to the service area is created, and indeed, people who want to visit the project from other nearby places such as Arquata Scrivia, must go through Vocemola. Also, by creating an attractive intervention that offers more than a gas station and restrooms, road drivers will be able to stay to visit the place and enjoy the experience it offers.

In such a way, the service area of the motorway will no longer be a limit for the town, but will function as a meeting point between external and internal users. From the intervention it is expected that both types of users can benefit, but especially the residents of Vocemola, since being an attractive and tourist place, it becomes a suitable area to place businesses, generating employment and consequently improving the economic situation of Vocemola and the lifestyle of its residents.