Pedestrian promenade and facilities
The new pedestrian promenade in the “Intersettore” area has been designed starting from the need of “measuring” the large space created by a sequence of buildings, that the second variance to the municipal land use regulations provides for. This translates into a series of enclosed spaces – a system of squares – conceived to be conducive to a proper homogeneous domestic environment in a long narrow space which cannot be perceived as a whole.
The project originates from the transposition of the historic centre of Barletta with its typical central axis (the decumanus) crossed by seven perpendicular streets, the so called “Sette Rue”.
The general configuration of the project is based on a long portico, linking the heads of the apartment buildings, and a system of thematic elliptical squares and linking paths.
The development is more concentrated in the central area than in the adjacent ones. On the north side, a sequence of small commercial facilities are accessible through a long portico with a particular L-shaped section. The size of the commercial facilities depends on the succession of the apartment buildings. The photovoltaic energy system for night lights in the squares is located on the roofs of the commercial facilities.
The final part of the portico and the area around the main square-theatre both host small facilities and technical rooms for urban use. The whole environmental system is intersected by cycling and pedestrian paths which are part of the green infrastructural elements of the area: winding paths marking and surrounding the thematic squares and the green hills, becoming the central core of the project.
The thematic squares on top of the green hills are the heart of the project. They have different functions and materials describing a particular system of spaces: the stone cavea with a combination of fixed stone seats and lawn, the square-theatre, partially protected from solar radiation by removable blinds, the playground square and the water square. Some gardens and thematic groves separate the water square from the dry garden.
