The 50 students who were this morning welcomed in the monumental hall of Palazzo Gotico by the mayor Katia Tarasconi and the councilors Francesco Brianzi and Adriana Fantini. Accompanying them were the teachers of the Department of Architecture of the Piacenza territorial hub, Sara Protasoni and Michele Roda, together with the teachers of the Department of Design Emilio Lonardo and Anna Anzani, organizer of the initiative, who explains: «There are girls and boys who at Polytechnics study, both in the Milanese and Piacenza campuses, but also many from international schools, in particular the ESA Saint Luc universities in Brussels and FH Joanneum in Graz, partners of the Polytechnic for the European BIP Erasmus+ project. A great opportunity for exchange and internationalization.” For the foreign delegations, present were teachers Nicolas Gyomorey and Fred Ruymen from the Belgian capital, Anke Strittmatter and Sigrid Buerstmayr for the Austrian institute.
The underlying theme of the project, which was divided into three online meetings before the workshop which officially started today, will be the redevelopment, rearrangement and communication of an urban area in transformation, with particular attention on Piazza Casali, starting from the interventions that the municipal administration – partner of the process – is launching for the redevelopment of this central public space and the buildings that overlook it, primarily the former Stables of Maria Luigia. «Collaboration between academic and public institutions is fundamental for the creation of lively and culturally rich urban environments, which respond to the needs and desires of the community – underlined the mayor and councilors in wishing the students good luck, underlining how this European network represents – a precious opportunity for our city, not only for the important university partnerships, but also because we actively involve young people in defining the city of the present and the future”.
The acronym of the workshop, P4P, emphasizes the public and collective character of the space that the young Architecture and Interior Design students will try to reimagine, also with the sensitivity of those who live and inhabit urban environments with renewed rhythms and ambitions compared to a few years ago does. The initiative, supported by the Polytechnic of Milan also thanks to funds for internationalisation, will take place in the Vegezzi Pavilion of the Arata Campus in via Scalabrini, but will not be permanent: in addition to the activity on the project sites, students will be involved in numerous events capable of transmitting and communicating the identity of the Piacenza area. The work is expected to close on Friday morning with the public presentation of the results, in the form of architectural proposals for Piazza Casali. Furthermore, on Tuesday 4 June, the students involved in the workshop will be able to discover little curiosities about the city, including riddles and artistic performances, thanks to the Escape City organized by the APS Piacenza Network, one of the initiatives awarded by the Piacenza 2030 – Young city call future: everything will end with the evening at the Spazio4 meeting centre, where the Erasmus group will have the opportunity to come into contact with the local student community during the final event of the University Festival – University Sports Day.
The large redevelopment projects of the territory have been under the lens of the Design and Architecture students of the Polytechnic of Milan also in recent months, thanks to the collaboration between the university, the Municipality of Piacenza, the “Riusiamo l’Italia” Foundation and various international academic realities. As part of the course of studies in Interior Design held by Professor Anzani, a laboratory focused on the themes of urban regeneration and the valorisation of historical and socio-cultural heritage began in the spring, with the first inspections and field surveys. of the city, under the aegis of the teacher and architect Roberto Tognetti of “Riusiamo l’Italia”. Some places and shared spaces have been chosen as case studies which in the coming months will be at the center of a profound process of creative transformation: the former Stables of Maria Luigia – destined to host the new headquarters of the covered market in Piazza Casali and, on the first floor, a multimedia museum dedicated to local culture – and Space 2, the subject of one of the five strategic projects of the Urban Transformation Company (Atuss) of the Municipality of Piacenza, co-financed by the Emilia-Romagna Region with FESR and FSE+ funds, as a hub of community, of which the start of the participatory path aimed at young people between 14 and 35 years was presented just this morning.
