Regione Liguria
AutoritĂ Portuale della Spezia
Comune della Spezia
La Spezia and its Port:
the Waterfront project
le forme dell’acqua
The Project: Architect JOSÉ MARÍA TOMÁS LLAVADOR - team leader Architect ALDO MAZZANOBILE Architect AMEDEO SCHIATTARELLA
INDEX 05
PRELIMINARY EVALUATIONS
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PLANNING CRITERIA AND STRATEGIES
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THE PLAN
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the port system the city's pedestrian areas, the street network and parking system the city park Calata Paita within the city context
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FURTHER EVALUATIONS the lighting plan the bioclimatic aspect technical features of infrastructural works a study of flows and population density
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FINANCIAL ASPECTS
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COMPARATIVE TABLES
This publication recounts the various phases in the long itenerary which has recently brought us to approve the winning plan in the international competition about ideas. This has been an important, innovative and engrossing activity, which has viewed the city and its relationship with the sea resuming a central position in the development of the whole region. When courage, innovative will and an ability to envisage the future converge at an institutional and social level, the result can only be one of great value. It is namely that courage which has put some Italian and European cities in a category of cities which have succeeded in planning and realizing remarkable changes for their own communities, such as Barcellona or Genova. The professionals who have participated in the competition, experts of world renown, have all taken up the challenge of a port and city to be developed together in a shared futuristic vision. Selecting the winning plan has been quite a difficult task, as all planners have actually interpreted the relationship between our community and the sea in a very original and at the same time realistic manner. The challenge now continues with the start of the realization, actualization and scheduling phase and a search for the appropriate tools to execute the project. This is the time to look for partners among private entrepreneurs and in the tourism, cruise line and maritime transport sectors. It is also the time to strengthen the existing relationship with the residents, making progress in transparent dealing and the ability to work in teams. We would thus show that we have not written a fairy-tale but that we have drafted a feasible plan and that this will be demonstrated when the works have begun, some time during the next few months. In concluding this short introduction I cannot refrain from thanking all those with whom I have had the honour of collaborating during the past months. They are the representatives of institutions, experts, professionals and numerous residents.
La Spezia Port Authority
Franco Pomo Secretary General
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The planning competition for an upgrading of the waterfront at La Spezia, held by the Port Authority jointly with the municipality of La Spezia, relates to the drawing up of architectural plans to upgrade and recover urban activities of part of the city seafront at Calata Paita which is currently used for port activities. The competition which was held following an agreement between the Port Authority and the municipality of La Spezia, related to the transformation plan, for touristic, nautical, cultural and accommodation facility purposes, of a port area of about 150,000 m2 directly behind the urban centre next to Viale Italia, having a quay length of about 600 m.
The competition winning plan and the published paper have been compiled by the planning group composed of: Architect José Maria Tomás Llavador - team leader Architect Amedeo Schiattarella Architect Aldo Mazzanobile Architects Christian Rocchi and Valeria Caramagno
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PRELIMINARY EVALUATIONS The planning competition for an upgrading of the waterfront at La Spezia, connected with the closure of the first port basin, arises from the need to readdress the strategic aims of the city by reintroducing an urban dimension which seeks, on the one hand, a new compatibility between industrial and touristic development by developing the commercial, service sector, recreational and accommodation facility functions of the waterfront adjoining the historical centre and, on the other, to recover the relationship which the city has with the sea. Currently, the actual relationship which the inhabitants of La Spezia have with the sea is nearly always denied and, wherever this relationship still exists, it is seen to be highly conditioned by the presence of port structures which hinder the possibility of reaffirming, or at least of making last, the values which have characterized the area’s identity. The development of port activities has actually followed local labour needs, linked to the more or less orderly expansion of industrial and commercial activities, in a continual incremental process. This has resulted in a harbour view which has ultimately imposed itself and overwhelmed the urban area which also, on its part, evolved and grew steadily up to the end of the 19th century. At the time of the unification of Italy and the placing of a naval base in the area, a trim rectangular grid was superimposed in the 19th century on the original medieval town core. It is now possible, through the masterplan, not only to define a design which establishes once and for all the shape of this part of the area, but rather a strategy of transformation, an open system of relationships and to be in a position of accepting the continuous alteration of the area, triggering evolutionary processes of changing balance between city and sea.
Satellite view of the Gulf of La Spezia
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The four main purposes of the proposed plan may be identified in Identity, Sustainability, Competitiveness and Solidarity. The concept of identity should be given due priority and put at the centre of attention. It is a profound way of being at the same time a community and a “physical location” and results from the opposing impulses of keeping living memory on one hand and the need for continuous evolution, linked to the passage of time, on the other. Continuity and innovation are two important momenta which underly the concept of identity and thus make up the basic conditions imposed by local administrators to address the transformation processes relating to this area. The terms competitiveness, solidarity and sustainability intend to define and demonstrate clearly the precise direction this transformation is bound to take. An evaluation of natural resources and the development of participatory processes indicate an evolutionary course of development watchful of both human and natural values, freed from the superstructures of a purely speculative culture and in search of a new dimension in the economic, social, environmental and cultural spheres.
View of the city
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PLANNING CRITERIA AND STRATEGIES The process, which the masterplan now puts into action, should constitute a breaking point with the reasoning behind the urban expansion of the city, pursued in the latter post-war years. If to this day the stone city has dictated its most rigorous rules and filled in every available space unhindered, we should now set off again by asserting that La Spezia is a city of land and water and that the latter element should be able to reaffirm its own requirements and visible presence, simply because this would be necessary to rediscover an identity which sprouts from roots cast in those locations. The planning theme undergoes a reflection on this dialectical dualism between city and environment, between artifice and nature, between order and randomness. This is the logical territory where our plan was drawn up. In the area which is freed from production and industrial facilities, two opposing thrusts emerge: on the one hand, buildings tend to occupy in continuity and in “connection” the free spaces with their own features consisting in planning, geometric organization of space and constructed masses which tend to reconstuct a boundary wall. On the other hand, nature works towards the re-appropriation of territory by means of the erosion of limits, the cancellation of geometric austerities, reaffirming the values of randomness and spontaneous growth.
Map reading
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This antithesis (not incompatibility) between the two forces has always been present in the history of architecture and has been resolved with the nearly total prevalence of building on the environment; nowadays the awareness that the values of natural resources represent an inheritance which may not be renounced, has led the municipal administration of La Spezia to include sustainability among the guiding principles of development. This does not mean a re-naturalization of the shoreline, but rather a search for a new equilibrium between human activities and the environment, based on a dimension of compatibility which allows artifice and nature to coexist. The area involved in the masterplan thus assumes the marking of territory within which to experiment new possible levels of compatibility between two systems which, in a symmetrical and opposing manner, tend to occupy it. We are in a boundary area, an outer territory in which existing balances are put under discussion by the dismantling of some port functions. The chance could therefore not be lost of rendering the separation less clear in such manner that both nature and buildings together form a new unity. The dividing line between the two forces should become more transitory. Instead of the geometric austerity for quays imposed by strict port usage, there should enter a more defined and organic system of signs which reaffirm the value of both complexity and variability. The shoreline breaks at certain stretches, the sea penetrates to the inner part of the city, trees grow on continuous and extended stretches of land, making inroads into urban areas and, the other way round, buildings expand at a low level which reconstructs a new level of countryside thrusting itself in a casual and detached manner to the inner parts of the sea. Emptiness and horizontality prevail over fullness and verticality.
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Coastline's change
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The coastline nowadays
The new coastiline
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THE PLAN Goals La Spezia must invest in order to become a reference city; it must place itself at the centre of attention of economic and social activity in the western Mediterranean. Owing to its strategic position, having a very developed hinterland, La Spezia is situated in the centre of development of the Latin coast which includes the Spanish, French and northern Italian shores. It is moreover necessary to brand La Spezia as a tourist destination par excellence, modern and in the vanguard. With this aim in mind a plan is being worked out for the creation of a new central urban area (CUA): a waterfront that pursues the two objectives of bestowing the city with a new dynamic area and of consolidating its role as a new tourist venue. The development would take place in an area of 330,000 m2 of which 40,000 shall be earmarked for green areas and where there shall be realized, among other things, a new marina, two hotels, a conference centre and a new cruise-liner terminal. The total investment required is estimated at around € 215 million. The harbour is one of the main tourist attractions in the city; the improvement of its infrastructures and the realization of recreation areas and the promotion of new cultural and artistic activities, would therefore create great interest. Owing to this investment and the eventual income deriving from several projects that would be generated, it would be possible to render that area a dynamic one even if to this day it has not been exploited and enjoyed by the city. This way, through a regeneration of its urban set-up, La Spezia could create wealth which it could then re-invest directly in the city, stimulating the local economy by improving the standard of living of its inhabitants. All this is founded on the three concepts for the ideal functioning of a city: to live, work and benefit.
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Putting the plan into action The plan which has been drawn up intends to define an urban landscape which finds in the identifying elements which are already present in the area of La Spezia a push towards continuity in line with the character of the locality. The characteristic of nineteenth century greenery in Viale Italia, the modulated rhythm of empty spaces and of the full spaces scanning the backstage buildings overlooking the sea, the tight street network which grids the urban system in that area, the stretch of sea with its scenery, environmental, leisure and recreation, tourist and sports values, have been the local invariables to which reference was made during the planning stage. The result of this interaction between memory and project is a complex and unitary landscape within which an exercise was carried out whereby overlapping and intersecting systems constituting the main framework of the plan were identified: - open spaces and the street network The shaping of an open space is conceived according to the criteria imposed by the need to stabilize and reinforce the direct link between the consolidated urban layout and the shoreline, to reach a full integration between city and harbour area. This approach allows a resolution of the critical access points to the sea and the cross-points of pedestrians and vehicles while identifying new axes of continuity. In this plan, the green area assumes a central role and an element of connection and integration between the strengthened city and the seafront which will be revitalized. The plan foresees widespread enlargement of already existing green areas which reinforces the cultural activities envisaged in the totality of the works. The green area will thus become part of the urban fabric forming a strong link and transit element. - the urban fabric The spaces destined for the service sector should necessarily be conceived in continuity with the constructed blocks of the existing city and parts of the strengthened layout should be redesigned. The uses envisaged for this zone should be in equilibrium and priority given to such uses as would allow the work to be complete and self-sufficient, making it a place where one could live and benefit from new opportunities. - the facilities IThe plan proposes the creation of a complex of structures and facilities related to culture, entertainment, play and recreational activities, within the context of a wider urban evaluation and upgrading plan. The project completes the city endowments and creates new functions in the light of the implementation of the uses, for the upgrading of part of the city, which is currently still far from the paths normally trodden by the public, and for touristic development; the cruise terminal for passenger ships and large yachts; the marina at the Italia Quay for large boats and the enlargement of the Mirabello for smaller leisure craft. As part of the works the necessary parking meeting urban standards shall be created. These large-scale projects shall determine, even over a short distance, a radical transformation of the city's aspect and of its accommodation facilities, rendering it competitive on the touristic level, while giving back its inhabitants living spaces and contributing to new channels of economic growth.
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General plan
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The port system In the greater part of the Italian coast, the planning and, above all, the consequent realization of yachting structures were unable to foresee the times of the vigorous development of this important economic sector. The endemic lack of berthing space represents, to this very day, one of the main stumbling blocks to further development. The lack of adequate mooring space has brought about a proliferation of a whole series of “spontaneous” solutions, namely those of occupying portions of territory and of shoreline which are chosen more for their available space rather than because of any consistent planning. La Spezia has not escaped from this way of thinking. Recent planning, PUC and PRP, reorganizes the whole Gulf in a rational way and in harmony with itself. Our plan proposes the creation of a Cruise-liner Terminal and two new marinas, one making use of the Italia Quay and of the western part of the Calata Paita, and the other in the Mirabello area. The three proposed projects should complete a system which has already been largely completed in its facilities; the Cruise terminal for passenger ships and large yachts over 70 metres long; the marina at the Italia Quay for vessels up to 70 metres long and, opposite, the enlargement of the Mirabello for smaller pleasure craft. In the case of the marina at the Italia Quay the mooring capacity at the port is defined as follows: vessels up to 16 m length: 50 vessels up to 20 m length: 110 vessels up to 40 m length: 35 vessels up to 70 m length: 5 Total: 200
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Cruise-liner terminal The cruise-liner terminal has been located in the disused part of the first dock, where anchorage is deeper and the space for manoeuvering is wider; being located at an island quay, it provides berthing for up to three cruise-liners at the same time. A marina at the Italia Quay and Calata Paita The arrangement regarding the main tourist harbour has been envisaged in the dock area between the Italia Quay and the starting point of Calata Paita. It is a small urban harbour, planned as a conclusion of the visual sweep starting from the Cathedral, across the new Piazza Europa and Piazzale del Marinaio, with the subway allowing a continuous passage, practically recreating the continuity with the sea of the old Colle dei Capuccini. The Italia Quay makes new use out of the already existing pier, providing for its adjustment at its head end (with the construction of a perpendicular breakwater to host the yachting club and the club-house, besides the widening of a section of the quay to provide better usage). This is mainly conceived for large vessels, having a minimum length of 12 metres and a maximum length of 70 metres; along the quay there shall be sited service activities related to boating services and small commercial activities as well as trees. On the western part of Calata Paita, suitably rounded off at its head at an angle overlooking the Italia Quay, there is to be a mooring area also for super-yachts, or vessels in transit. This same landing may be provisionally used for mooring tugs or fishing vessels after the Italia Quay is taken out of use. A marina at Mirabello The creation of a third basin, directly to the South-East of the approved plan, will allow a further 1,100 places for small boats. This concerns small berths having a maximum length of 10 to 12 metres. Our idea is that a definitive arrangement could be made here for all those small boats which now crowd the Morin promenade and the moorings in front of Piazza Europa and the Italia Quay, including the fishing vessels. A quick check has shown there are some 600 spaces to be reallocated; spaces in excess could be allocated to bring to order those “sprouting marinas” which very often take over stretches of shoreline which logic, the market or regulatory provisions intend that they be used otherwise.
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View of Italia Quay
View of new marina
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The city's pedestrian areas, the street network and parking system The connection between the waterfront and the city should as of necessity pass, for strong continuity, between urban spaces and the sea. To this end it has been necessary, since the first plans were drawn up, to establish and reinforce a direct link with a few focal points: Via del Prione, the canal banks up to the naval museum and Piazza Europa. Besides such main areas of pedestrian continuity, we have also identified other important axes for linking with the city, about which the pedestrianization, even only partially, of Via Manzoni, Via Piave and Via Micca is proposed.
Connections between the town and the sea
From the Morin promenade to Calata Paita The division between city and sea as seen at Viale Italia is certainly one of the main critical points in the pedestrian system: on the one hand, it is actually necessary to bypass this important artery and to restore pedestrian continuity to the city, on the other it is impossible that this road loses its character of a long urban boulevard. For this reason, it has been decided to partially lower the road, in line with Via del Prione and Piazza Europa, and in the stretch outside the lowered street, to displace the carriageway on the seaside and to create a wide green traffic reservation, in such a way as to soften the impact caused by vehicles and to increase its feature as a wide urban boulevard.
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Current pedestrian areas
New pedestrian areas
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Thus, access from Via del Prione would be without hindrance to the area under review in the plan. It is at this point that an Urban Centre is envisaged, representing a destination point for the Prione axis and marking the head of the shoreline stretch, where the city plans could be exhibited. The pedestrian area proceeds towards the east with a few piers meant for strolling and resting, where some small commercial activities may be found, with minimum input of city furniture, trees and paving. In front of the Morin seafront, two small islands house open-air swimming pools, along with a fitness centre and the canoeing club. Once at the Calata Paita, the pedestrian way will be inclined so that commercial and service operations can be placed below it. The end of this way shall be always visible the same as the horizon and the sea: the masses positioned on Cala Paita are actually on an open space at ground level which even here allows a strong pedestrian and visual continuity.
Urban centre and open air swimming pool
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The parking spaces As part of the project about 52,000 m2 of parking spaces will be created which are needed to satisfy the requirements imposed by urban standards. The parking spaces have been mainly sited on Calata Paita. About 2,000 m2 of space at 1.00 m below street level (3 m under quay level) and 3,000 m2 of space at quay level (2.00 m) below the large inclined pedestrian way. A second below ground level parking space is envisaged under the Morin Promenade (11,571 m2), to service the waterfront and the possible siting of the steamer station. Further parking spaces are envisaged flush with Italia Quay and on Calata Paita (750 and 3,924 m2 respectively). The siting of parking spaces on Calata Paita took into account the passage of the two perpendicular collectors to the sea.
Parking scheme
Culture and entertainment infrastructures The project proposes the creation of a complex with structures and equipment for culture, entertainment, play and recreational activities, in the context of a wider urban evaluation and upgrading plan. The projects envisaged within the context of a proposal for equipment of general interest, such as turfed and public green areas, cultural and recreational equipment for amusement purposes, culture, music and entertainment, vary from the arrangement of the basic network to the park with urban squares, which are multipurpose like the amphitheatre forum, to the integrated arrangement of ranges of services such as the cinema centre, the music centre and the conference centre, with the required services infrastructures. All envisaged projects thus assume an important role the future aspect of the region; the plan for an equipped park area and of open and covered spaces not only points at creating service opportunites in quantity but also offers to future area users a series of initiatives which may be distinguished for their quality, for the full enjoyment of the environment and for the definition of a new aspect for the waterfront of La Spezia.
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City furniture City furniture shall be rugged and essential. Very long wooden benches 1.00 m wide alternate along the seafront, with limited material and as a point of passage between green and paved areas. It is the design of the greater green part which is underscored with a nearly continuous timber perimeter doubling as seating when someone wishes to contemplate the sea. Other seats punctuate Italia Quay and Piazza Europa: these will have usual size and form, which could also be formed by recovering the present white stone benches. In the same manner, inside theme gardens, some elements of furniture may be introduced (benches, litter bins, bicycle stands, signs, etc.) to be chosen from usual elements, preferring wood and steel as material having a pleasant and safe touch. Even the bitts, which are used in the berthing of any vessel, could be interpreted and used as elements where youths or anyone wanting to be very close to seawater, informally stop and sit. The crossings of both tracks in Viale Italia, are marked by traffic bollards. The paving done in basalt flag-stones punctuated by Carrara marble inserts is made, at a few link points, to flow into the street. At this stretch of the promenade the bollards are evident due to their mellow form (with a diameter of 40 cm and a height of 30 cm) and the soft colour of worked stone. Along the promenade, at regular intervals, there are small pavilions for housing certain facilities (such as the ramps from the parking spaces and for their ventilation), and the offer of some services (bar, book-shop, restaurant, small commercial activities, etc.). The simple prismatic shape has a closed solid part and a variable transparent part, transformable according to requirements. All pavilions are built on two levels and have a spacious terrace area which is accessible from the seafront, making it a privileged panoramic viewing point.
Urban furniture
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The children’s city The plan of this part of the city is not exclusively conceived “for children” but it concerns the public of all ages and puts children as a privileged point of reference to replan communal spaces, making it more livable for all, from a point of view which considers a child as a social subject who more radically poses the question of ecological spaces and of autonomous time, interlacing between collective interest and individual development, of mobility which is meant as socialisation and relations, of human relationships such as solidarity. The other important element which is built into the plan consists in the commitment to offer children adequate space and time, of hearing them while considering them as inhabitants for all intents and purposes, of making them participate actively in urban upgrading processes relating to ecology, of exploiting those spaces which are meant as thrusts towards relationships, socialization and social cohesion. Children are an important point of reference for the plan because such spaces as are welcome to dynamic and fragile users, which leave room for their fantasy and keep stimulating and attracting them again and again, shall be spaces which could fulfil the pleasure of all people. The whole paved area is accessible and fully devoid of any constructed barriers, it could always be used freely and safely both to walk around in and for social encounters.
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A specific area has been identified where children could play under supervision: the upgrading of the present play area shall take place by creating circular areas where games vary according to age ranges. - 2 to 3 years “the fantasy area”: children there live in a fairy-tale dream world where everything is possible and the amazement could leave space for the imagination of marvellous beings and actions; - 3 to 5 years “discovering senses”: visual stimulation, the theme of the labyrinth, of balance, orientation, could be useful to develop a good perception of oneself in relation to the environment. - 6 to 12 years “movement and communication”: it is an age for relations and communication in small groups mostly through body language and physical movement at times pushed to a limit of showing off.
Between the play area and the Salvator Allende museum there are a few play fountains which allow children to run along and play about with water or to stay very close to it. These fountains consist of steel rings which seem to rise out of the ground with water jets sprouting from them each having a different force and going in a different direction. It will be very entertaining to run about in the middle of these jets, passing through them and getting wet in summer! Even the swimming pools at the fitness centre shall have spaces and activities aimed at toddlers, such as summer centres and courses relating to sports, swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, etc. Thus even the fountains of Piazza Europa form a large plateau animated by water spouting, darting and moving in a playful and surprising manner: children enjoy themselves running around in it waiting for it to gush out or averting it when it does so. The exploration of theme gardens could serve as a moment of learning and educating oneself at the same time, perhaps incentivized by laboratories as learning gardens where primary school students could indulge in simple gardening activities and grasp from their contact with nature the respect due to ecology. Within the space allowed for open-air shows, certain activities could be organized which are more suitable for young people, such as theatre and music laboratories. The bicycle lane which goes through the whole park system gives a chance for families to go about on bicycles and pass their free time close to the sea taking an occasion to divert themselves between nature and culture.
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The city park The creation of a naturalistic botanical garden within the context of an upgrading programme, completes and reinforces the cultural activities envisaged in the fullness of the projects. The park is proposed in tune and correlation with La Spezia’s natural heritage and it constitutes a point of reference on the tourist circuit for a natural and landscaping evaluation of the place. The plan envisages a widespread enlargement of the green area system which already exists in Viale Italia, a garden which is now a historical entity, to be created on the seafront according to French models, formed by a lower part following typical Italian style garden design dominated by quality trees and shrubs. The whole system is kept together with palms and pine trees, which beat time in constant rhythm to the linear progression of the project. The garden area is lined and overlaid with the city Botanical Garden which had been constructed according to more spontaneous progression which unwinds itself along a double track, one lane of which is for pedestrians and the other for bicycles. The educational function is performed according to a sequenced programme of bush and/or grass groupings with a purpose of documenting the autochthonous vegetation species in that geographical area. The nature area, which has an aim of serving the public, this way becomes the cultural thrust for recovery and evaluation of La Spezia’s touristic/cultural system, complementary to an upgrading programme in the port area. The criteria which are followed for the realization of the park could be summarised in the following manner: - the use of typical essences in the Mediterranean basin, derived both from trees and from thicket; - special attention was given to the chromatic aspect, both with regard to blossoms and to the none less suggestive colour tones of the leaves, in various seasons; - all in all, a target is set of obtaining a result of casual spontaneity, in an already extremely rich environment of such natural emotions as vegetation can give; - in an environmental and less landscaped perspective, such roads as are near at hand and buildings will be screened, to underscore and highlight the coast, islands and the Mediterranean shrubland, restoring all their original characteristics. In this park care has been taken of the spontaneity and wonderful natural causality, yet through all this, care has also been taken to create visual channels, from which images can be viewed, to hide or to soften, or to give a dreamlike appearance to some zones in comparison to others, softening the impact with parking spaces and buildings having an environmental touch of respect and improvement of the site. The stage curtains which have been created, with the aid of greenery, do integrate themselves without violating the natural spontaneity, thus obtaining the result of an environmental uniqueness. To all that should be added the care and attention given to the colourful aspect, both of the blossoms and of the less suggestive colour tones of leaves (maple, oak, ironwood, willow trees, etc.) which they will revive and characterize each season. The city park expansion will take place according to two lines. The main one, taking the direction of Calata Paita, will realize a continuous system of trees which from Morin Promenade arrives up to Via San Cipriano. In this manner its function could be emphasized as an element of physical and qualitative mediation interposed between the city front and the shoreline; the other line envisages the widening of the area in the direction of the sea. This further expansion will occur according to lines which, since they face the shoreline, tend to increase the transversal connections between the city system and the pedestrian sidewalks, thus reconstructing a continuity which is frequently lost nowadays. The scanning of these directions is directly influenced by the rhythm of constructional full and empty spaces. The natural element thus tends to transform itself in a fundamental component of city architecture. The large city park as is being proposed by us, while filling and upgrading the “historical” belt of the city’s public gardens, constitutes in the totality of the waterfront, the connection, link and the ecological filter between the historical city and the open pedestrian space by the sea.
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View of new gardens
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Gardens plan
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L'All green spaces taken together are meant to have a high vegetation density, in order to separate traffic in Viale Italia, to enclose and soften space in Piazza Europa, or to set up an ecological base for reconversion in Calata Paita. The logical structure of the project is based on two thrusts: the first, consisting of green planting of medium/tall height, representing the stock system which, on a general scale, establishes the full profile which occupies, by redesign and configuration in "negative", the city’s empty spaces; the second defines at parterre level a series of “vegetation belts” placed side by side and taking a longitudinal direction, which bring the public into better contact with the possibility of enjoying vegetation. The full system constructed in conformity with a comb system guarantees the spatial integration between an urbanized layout and a natural margin of the seafront. On the inside of this green regional macrography, a more minute and detailed subsystem organizes the prevailing order in the new gardens according to a design drafted on linear belts which criss-cross and penetrate the entire public space. In this movement spaces are found for the planting of species of trees and shrubbery, which are chosen for their longevity, volume and colour scheme or even for their scent. The park’s dentil contour is highlighted by a continuous band (1.00 m wide) of wooden paving, which becomes, in its position in front of the sea, continuous seating. Moving down the scale the deciduous and evergreen species are arranged according to their uban role. The evergreen species (phoenix canariensis, casuarina equisetifolia, ceratonia siliqua), chosen from varieties compatible with the sea climate, mostly to be found abehind Viale Italia, constitute a sunstantial screen, while offering the possibility for the passerby to look through the trunks. The palms, taking advantage of the double line punctuating Morin promenade, are always planted in pivotal positions and structured groups (in rows or blocks of five) as in the case of the vegetation used to concentrate space in Piazza Europa, or of the double and single rows which accompany and stand as a natural landmark of the Italia Quay. The casuarina, with its elegant and fringed look is a recurrent presence and main element in themed gardens. The ceratonia, which are more compact and dense, assume the function of using their volume to soften of the variation of density of space between the urban structure and the large inclined square at Calata Paita. The deciduous species (cercis siliquastrum, jacaranda mimosifolia, acacia retinoides glauca, tamaerix gallica), are above all chosen for the colour of their blossoms to create episodes of wonder and interest along the whole length of the promenade. The pronounced pink colour of the Judas Tree (cercis siliquastrum) intersect and become the dominant theme of the cycle path, while the colour explosion at the beginning of spring of the acacias will cast a yellow hue on the crossing at Viale Italia in the vicinity of the Morin Quay, or will front the new public buildings at Calata Paita. The Jacaranda, which is more delicate and elegant interacts and refines, along with the stylistic presence of the Tamarisk, the gardens between the residences and commercial areas. The shrub species compete among themselves for presence in a system made up of horizontal bands: the structural theme of these bands actually is a linear intermittent hedge, between 100-200 cm wide, lining the promenade. These are essences of the Mediterranea shrub as adopted by the local tradition of the Italian garden: Buxus semprevirens, Viburnum tinus, Laurus nobilis, Ligustrum. At the rear of these espaliers grow shrubs with tinted blossoms which are put together in such manner as to present a theme for the spaces as in a painter’s palette. While walking along the seafront it could be that one would be enveloped by the white garden, or the yellow, pink or violet garden, discovering natural spaces for stopping and distracting oneself.
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Current green areas
New green areas
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Calata Paita within the city context In the area of Calata Paita, partly making use of the space between the original level of the quay and the new flexible and inclined surface, and partly by using the forms floating lightly over it, is envisaged the creation of a multipurpose complex in which public and private functions can take place so transforming it into a new city focal point. Alongside the cruise-ship terminal there is an organizational structure with service facilities connected to it, such as a conference centre (which can also be used for concerts or theatrical performances) together with a hotel building with sufficient beds to accommodate tourists in transit. Its basement shall moreover also house small to medium sized commercial activities, besides a widespread system and leisure services. The complex shall be completed by a multipurpose building hosting residential functions, offices and a medical centre besides gymnasia and a multimedia library. This will be made up of two C section edifices in formalized ground level open spaces, facing each other: various functions will be arranged within the space between them: two glazed constructions will ultimately join them at the base. The conference centre is closed in by a large surface area overhead, on one side and below, a large window on its sides facing the sea reveals its interior: the conference halls, the floors and the hotel parts, the vertical transitions become coloured elements which are visible also from far away: a large beacon facing the gulf.
Paita wharf new plan
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The Cultural Centre/Auditorium This building represents the architectural emergence of the new city Waterfront focal point. It is to be a symbol and sign of the whole project. Sited in a dominant position, it will be clearly identifiable both from the city for the iconic force of its geometry, and from the sea for the dazzle of its light on its glass surfaces. Even during the night the illumination strategy defined by us envisages underscoring with colour both the large exterior surfaces facing the city and the internal Auditorium structure, transforming the building into a real “magic lantern”. The cultural activities which take place in this large light soaked architectural space are many and they are linked to each other in a free and complex manner.
The organizational structure Alongside the cruise-liner terminal is a complex organizational structure which is meant to serve as an advanced multipurpose centre, with linked equipment, besides offices and a medical centre. The building complex has a public congress area with three halls (the larger hall seating 650 persons and the other two halls having 300 seats) as well as services able to operate in strict connection both with the organizational function and by way of service to any possible conference activities connected with the maritime station. The structure is completed by a three/four star hotel with 100 rooms each with bathroom and a panoramic terrace, a restaurant and a solarium. The Coach Terminal A coach terminal is envisaged directly connected to the cruise-liner terminal (by footbridge/long balcony), with parking for more than 40 buses and coaches, services for travellers, catering and above all refreshment services and information to improve the comfort of travellers and tourists making use of the harbour infrastructures. The activities undertaken by city, district and regional coaches services within local regional transport systems, shall assume a central role, one of the current expanding sectors of great importance for functional integration and for developing tourism locally.
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The hotel structure The building is at the hub of La Spezia's urban system. Being sited close to the municipal offices and the Cathedral, within the city park at Calata Paita (and therefore close to the Cruise terminal and Auditorium), it is sited on the seafront enjoying a wide view of the whole gulf. Isolated from the city traffic it is conceived as quality hotel (5 star) linked to an increasing demand for quality hotel accommodation established by the inflow of cruise-liner activities, and therefore having a high level of service standards (a fitness centre, suites, panoramic restaurant, reserved parking, etc.). The residences The residential structures envisaged in the plan will be very restrained, both from a quantitative (about 7,500 m2) and from a dimensional point of view. For their type, we consider using four double-bodied linear structures constructed in parallel to the city's penetration axes, in such a way as not to interfere with the view of already existing buildings. The buildings will be about 12 m tall. (3 floors above an open ground floor) and will be completely immersed in the city park at Calata Paita. A second smaller residential structure exists on Italia Quay, being temporary lodgings, made up of small basic units for temporary accommodation directly linked with the use of the marina lying before them.
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The Cruise terminal The kind of traffic generated by the Cruise terminal is more likely to be made up of commercial ships rather than smaller craft. The presence of small craft in areas where ships over 50,000 tons manoeuvre gives rise to dangerous situations contrary to current safety regulations. As for the Cruise terminal, our plan proposes the realization of an island lying before the Calata Paita; this siting would have several advantages: - It would mark the end of the Commercial Harbour to the West, creating at the same time a boundary or barrier which fixes the routes and spaces where movements may take place within which large ships and their tugs operate. - The island would have a roughly triangular form, with a broad side to the south-east parallel to Garibaldi Quay; the Old Dock will in this manner have new dimensions, it being given a rectangular form (the same as with the second and third docks) and by creating an expanse of water exclusively dedicated to heavy traffic. - It is possible to imagine in the future, by dismantling the whole harbour dock up to the Garibaldi Quay, the island would allow having a dock which would be dedicated to cruise-liner traffic while making it more possible for super-yachts to use the western part of the island. - the creation of the island will allow the excavations to be fully put to a new use (underground parking spaces and reshaping quays) with a zero balance in terms of requirement/surplus of land.
- Final advantage: a project of great esteem such as that envisaged on Calata Paita probably merits a better backdrop, which would not be the Garibaldi Quay which is used for bulk carrying. The Cruise terminal thus becomes a kind of theatrical stage, with large white ships changing the scenery every day. The project proposes the realization of a modern harbour hub made up of a ship terminal and a coach terminal linked to it, with all equipment and pier structures dedicated to this function, indispensable for the proper running of a port intended for cruise-liners.
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FURTHER EVALUATIONS Since the beginning, it has been our objective to develop in a structured manner all those aspects which show the concreteness and the real feasibility of the plan. Even if not expressly required by the competition announcement, it appeared necessary to draw up a planning program which would consent to the competing party to take the competition seriously. Shunning to the appeal of the highly imaginative and formally captivating proposal, or contrary to various appealing proposals which however have a strong impact on the ordinary activities of the city, we have pursued with lucidity the intention of making verified proposals shared by persons in a position to guarantee technical and economic feasibility. To this end, we have studied those aspects which we hold to be fundamental to consolidate the project, namely: - the lighting plan, which is more than simply a project, is considered as a veritable and suitable strategic plan; the purpose is to show through light the visual elements of the new project, both for anyone moving around inside it and for any person who would be observing from far away or coming from the sea. During the night, light and colour are bound to highlight the city outlines, avoiding all flattening which is usually caused by street lighting and by monochrome sources. Light plays a role which is functionally of very great importance within the context of a resident's sense of safety: careful planning could contribute to make the city safer. The new structure at the harbour thus proposes a possible solution through lighting, both in terms of functional light by paying attention to the legislative requirements by way of lighting control, and in terms of formal light, laying emphasis on the new buildings and on links with the city.
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- a verification of bioclimatic aspects aspects in relation to individual buildings, by following the following aspects: - conformity and orientation of the buildings in terms of their exposure to the sun to reduce thermal input during summer and increase it in winter. - conformity and orientation of the buildings in terms of prevailing winds to reduce the temperature of buildings and allowing internal cross-ventilation. - relevant use of trees and shrubs which would allow a reduction of temperature in the surrounding areas. - the use of systems for the collection and reuse of rainwater.
Cultural centre - auditorium
- an understanding of the technical features of network and marine infrastructural works, insofar as the plan for the new waterfront at La Spezia represents an opportunity also to upgrade the city's network infrastructure and to improve the running and quality of services. With this aim in mind, a plan has been formulated for the infrastructures of network systems which is based on an elementary scheme: a group of longitudinal networks connecting two points of exchange located at the far ends of Viale Italia, one at the intersection with Viale Amendola, the other at the cross-roads with Viale S. Bartolomeo. This group of networks, besides guaranteeing the service to the new activities, allows it to go alongside, and suport, the present city network infrastructure, even accounting for future developments (e.g. Mirabello marina, the arsenal, etc.).
- a verification of some areas (Cruise terminal) particularly under the aspect of pedestrian flows, to analyze the criticality of the main pedestrian external thoroughfares of the new complex and particularly of the cruise-liner terminal; the hypothesis considered, which involves the greatest number of persons possible at the same time, corresponds to the disembarkation phase of a cruise-liner with 2,500 persons and, nearly at the same time, of a ship with 1,500 persons over 2 gangways.
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- a verification of the implementation phase of the project with an aim of minimizing the impact made by the works on port activities and on city life, this being a problem which could not be ignored not so much due to its total economic proportions inasmuch as to the type of intervention. A verification which would have an impact compatible with the required continuity both of harbour activities of La Spezia and of its inhabitants' daily life, appears to us to be an obligation for whoever intends making any transformation proposals. - the economic-financial study which makes the whole project from Calata Paita to Morin Promenade one which could be financed.
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FINANCIAL ASPECTS In order that the repositioning process of the city of La Spezia is realized efficiently it is necessary to involve both the public administrations and private individuals, investors and administrators. In this process, the administrations shall promote the plan and lay down the most basic lines of action; the individuals, instead, shall develop the plans and recover their investments through income. The table below summarizes the figures relative to the envisaged total investment, as divided into investment with profit and investment without profit.
The financing model for the operation is referred to as “Build - Operate - Transfer” (BOT): this model is normally applied when the land is public property and it is transferred to private undertakings under licence for a period which could vary between 50 and 90 years. By means of promotions and/or income production, the private stakeholders can recuperate the initial investment and develop the business, with an Internal Profit Rate (TIR) of between 6.5% and 9%. The total investment is divided into investment with profit (hotel, parking, residences) and without profit (garden spaces, paved zones): this plan has been conceived in such a way that a considerable part of the investment without profit is realized by stakeholders. The sum of investment without profit has been distributed between various projects with profit in a manner which is proportional according to two parameters: the envisaged investment and the expected cash flow. The greater the initial investment is and the greater the cash flow, so much greater will the ascribed percentage of investment without profit be, since there will be a greater ability to absorb it; instead, in the case where the investment was lower and it presented tighter cash flows, it shall be ascribed a lower percentage of investment without profit.
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It is clear that, in doing so, the profit on investment is reduced right from the time that the provate stakeholders are taking the burden of part of the investment without profit, which reflects itself positively on various activities such as the hotel, the conference centre and commercial spaces. This also applies for the green and paved areas which generate a pleasant environment which acts as an element of great attraction for the public: this establishes remarkable positive effects on the commercial activity of the zone. By means of the BOT model the administration could establish the development of an area without investing large sums, counting on private capital. For this plan, there has been calculated a public investment of about € 35 million on a total investment of about € 215 million. Once the role of each of the stakeholders involved in the process is made clear, it would be required to define the role held by the financial system, from which capital ensues, which should recognize in this plan a project with a high potential for success. A unique scenario is considered in which it is supposed that external financing for the plans equals 50%, even if a higher level of external financing could be foreseen. The next step shall consist of attracting private stakeholders to invest in this area: to achieve this, it would be necessary to convince both investors and enterprises about the convenience of effecting the investment. It is important, to this end, to foster cultural, social or sports events which would serve as an incentive for the use of the centres which are being proposed to provide an impulse for communication and to promote the city's transformations which are being proposed. This would induce a remarkable degree of tourist attendance. On the basis of these elements the private stakeholders, who are those who really face the risk of the operation, are in a position to envisage that their investment will acquire extraordinary value. All this confers the project with the characteristic of self-management and is sustainable, in the long run, since this plan provides for transformations of the urban aspect by virtue of which, in the future, it would be possibile for the public to fully benefit from the newly created spaces and to enjoy part of the city which has to this very day remained unknown.
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COMPARATIVE TABLES
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publisher:
managing director: project manager: in collaboration with:
layout: print:
La Spezia Port Authority supplement of “Port of La Spezia Yearbook” (Auth. SP n. 8 - 14/9/2006) Valter Cappi Fabrizio Bugliani Pilar Martì Rodrigo Davide Vetrala Varivirdi Agency - La Spezia Intese Grafiche - Brescia