FRAME is a public space project that consists in the development of a portion of asphalt removed from vehicular traffic and repurposed as a meeting and exchange place: a new square for the neighborhood of Pratocentenaro.
Pratocentenaro is an old neighborhood that has changed radically since the Second World War: a few buildings dating back to the early 1900s contrast with the area developed and generated by the economic boom that erased the image of the small rural village. Pratocentenaro is missing a square, a meeting and gathering place for residents; in fact, the center of the district is represented by Largo San Dionigi, a crossroads used in a chaotic way for unregulated parking.
The public space was designed to create numerous perspectives modeled around the building that forms the perimeter of the square. The project draws inspiration from the 20th-century vocabulary of fabrics, floor inlays and geometric decorations, familiar to the citizens of Milan. The design consists of a series of concentric squares around the areas of greatest interest: the urban lounges, the ping pong area, and the accesses to the pedestrian crossings. Starting from these fixed points, with the dual desire to identify these areas and cover the entire surface of the square, an intricate design is generated made up of thick and continuously moving lines.
In general, the transformation of the city and the creation of public space pass through a stage of closure and subtraction. During this intervention, the distance between citizens and design is bridged through an open construction site: the construction was conducted through a workshop organized in collaboration with the Terraviva association, which involved 15 students and young architects. The volunteers occupied the public space constantly during the week of construction, becoming not only active agents in the space’s physical change, but also a point of reference for the citizens, listening to them, involving them and bringing them into a closer relationship with the project.
