VICENZA CIVIC CENTER

Vicenza is a small town in Northern Italy that is home to Andrea Palladio. The town is centered around the historic Basilica Palladiana located in Piazza dei Signori. The studio focused on how to work with a project at the heart of a historic site while also learning and adapting a more modern design. In conjunction with studio we learned about architecture history across Italy, Switzerland and Austria; city planning, and the place making of piazzas.

The program is a mixed use civic building that features museum exhibition space, an indoor and outdoor market, and library for Palladio text and drawings. The design creates a more formal entry to Piazza dei Signori, with a grid and spacing that addresses the surrounding building fabric. The form works with the natural grade of the site to create a sunken Piazza with amphitheater stairs for events. This also allows for the existing Roman ruins at this level to be exposed and incorporated into the Museum, that starts at this floor and continues vertically. The outdoor markets are flexible and take place under the colonnade, with the indoor market below ground. The library is on the top floor of the complex, connecting with a historic stairway over to the Basilica Palladiana.

Location

Vicenza, Italy

Date

Spring 2018

Professor

Don Corner
Megan Haight

Size

50,000 sf