LA DARSENA OR THE URBAN SEA

“The architectural and landscape quality of the project is excellent overall, with a brilliant capacity for integration between the subways, the footbridge and the set of collective spaces both on the city side and on the Darsena side” (excerpt from the jury report).

LA DARSENA OR THE URBAN SEA is the design proposal at the competition for the masterplan of the railway station area of Ravenna. The competition called for the reconfiguration of the area next to the railway in order to solve the break between the Darsena (the historical harbour channel) and the historic city, which resulted from the construction of the railway hub. The goal is to create a new urban system with a new intermodal exchange between public and private transport to turn the area into an urban link between the historic centre, the Darsena and the new neighbourhoods.
The project meets these needs through a linear system of singular buildings placed along the railway and road infrastructure. This system of urban façades screens out the noise of the road and of the railway, freeing up public land for new open spaces in continuity with the landscape and historical values.

Northside, the front of the Darsena is a “landscape staircase” overlooking the sea and the horizon; the interior accommodates the tecnical services and the ones for bathing. The Darsena becomes a space for relax, leisure and free time: the city’s Riviera.
Southside, the new multi-storey car park building identifies and screens from traffic a large linear public space, the Boulevard, which ends on the Darsena. A sequence of open spaces makes the surrounding building fabric participate to the new urban re-shaping and gives value to the existing subway paths, contributing to restitch the area to the historic city.
Beyond the railway line, the “station square” is redefined as a hybrid space for pedestrians and vehicles, overlooked by the railway buildings restored for services and commercial uses, together with a new office tower.

Lastly, the “belvedere” cycle/pedestrian walkway resolves the gap -between the Darsena and the city: a stretched arch that allows to admire the profiles of the Rocca Brancaleone, the Basilica of San Giovanni, the park of Teodorico and the Canale Candiano.