Munari gym: new facility serving schools and sports associations in Sondrio, "a mix of public greenery and school activities"
An eco-sustainable zero impact building useful for satisfying the indoor space needs of city associations.
Munari gym: new facility serving schools and sports associations in Sondrio, "a mix of public greenery and school activities".
Purpose, usefulness, right location, eco-sustainability: the gym that will be built for the Munari nursery school and for Credaro primary school in Sondrio it will satisfy the needs of 260 students, who today have to carry out physical activity in narrow spaces, and of many children and adults affiliated with Sondrio sports clubs always looking for spaces in which to train. The project was presented in full detail on Friday 21 July, in Council Room of Palazzo Pretorio, with the aid of computer images, to show the insertion of the building in an area, the easternmost portion, which occupies 2% of the total surface area of the West Park, in which the previous Administrations had planned the expansion of the Torelli School. Proportions, distances from other buildings and the same dimensions of the latter, almost all of different floors, favor this harmonic insertion.
«I'm sure – said the mayor Marco Scaramellini – that this information and images will dispel any doubts and will convince citizens of the quality of a work which is first and foremost useful to our children and young people and which fits well into the area, occupying an area not used for games, without interrupting the continuity of the city park. The construction of the gym represents another piece of a large project general redevelopment, which includes the intervention on the Torelli building, in connection with the project on the Castellina area. The gym does not disturb anyone, being located at a lower altitude than Via Bernina, and will not lead to an increase in vehicular traffic considering that during the day it will be used by school pupils and in the evening for sports club training".
«This is a project that we are carrying forward with conviction – added thecouncilor for public works Simone Del Marco -: the building is innovative, well inserted into the context, will be built with eco-sustainable materials and will use renewable energy systems. It will occupy a minimal part of the West Park, 2% of the 44 thousand square meters of surface area, and will enhance the entire area. More than words, the images make these characteristics evident and we are certain that citizens will appreciate the quality and usefulness of the new gym". Speaking on the importance of sport for the municipal administration and the need for facilities to be made available to the numerous city associations wasCouncilor for Sport and Tourism Michele Diasio. «The intervention is appropriate and necessary – he said – because there are many requests for spaces for sporting activities that as a Municipality we are unable to satisfy. For our Administration, sport is a priority and we are committed to intervening on all existing facilities to make them more modern and functional. This is an additional space which, like all the others, will be widely used."
It fell to the designer, architect Marco Ghilotti, emotionally linked to the area in which he lived and where he attended school, illustrate the intervention. The building has a North-South orientation, parallel to Via Bernina and its construction will not lead to changes to the road system or to the existing car park which will maintain the 23 parking spaces. The deep portico, necessary to protect the large windows from the sun's rays, represents an additional space that can be used by gym and park goers, just as the entrance square, at the end of Via Venusti, will also serve the school. Inside there will be a regulation-sized basketball and volleyball court with around 50 seats for users, as well as changing rooms. The aluminum casing was chosen as a recycled material, while a part of the roof, at a lower level than the maximum height, will be planted with greenery to give continuity to the view. The highest part will be covered by a solar panel system, with a power of 66 kW, with which to illuminate the gym and recharge e-bikes and electric cars.
«If the school is immersed in the park – concluded the designer -, the new gym is too and contributes to experiencing this dimension, in a mix of public greenery and school activities. The gym is there because it couldn't be anywhere else if we want to safeguard the West Park." The timescales for the construction of the new Munari gym will be tight: in the autumn the tender will be launched and by the end of the year the works will be entrusted to the winning company.
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