The lack of routine maintenance and a strategic overall vision has made the Sanremo Market Annonario less and less frequented and has been undergoing a phenomenon of marginalization for years.
We were called to solve these big problems by planning an intervention that would end in less than four months in order not to compromise the already difficult economic situation of the operators. Each design choice therefore had to adapt to compliance with these assumptions.
The building was born multipurpose and to some extent this characteristic saved it and made the idea of the recovery project clearer. The design choices were not easy due to the lack of a community of people able to sit at the design table as an authoritative interlocutor. At most we have found "committees" in defense of absolutely private interests. In fact, it is probable that a place like this has lost its symbolic value also because a common ethos has been lost among people, that religio civilis that has made Italian civitas great, without which it is impossible to support places of symbolic value.
We therefore had to design "on the sly", renouncing the great demands and instead looking for new functions capable of generating those relationships that today have failed to create this difficult situation.
The long concertation phase of the project as well as the analysis of the national and international reference models led us to consider that today the city markets must try to differentiate as much as possible the offer, since the approach of the people who use these places to shopping is not only for those who want to save but also for those looking for the best possible relationship between quality and price in the product.
The reorganization of the internal market space goes in this direction. The redesign and the planimetric relocation of the counters rebalance the customer's distribution flows and allow you to create an internal covered square that houses a small café, benches and tables.
The three-dimensional wooden structure serves to define a simple rule of use of the concession space. Market players are tremendously unruly and only by establishing simple rules can we hope to recreate a shared order. For this reason, curtains for closing the benches have been introduced. In the evening they must be closed and serve to establish the limit within which market operators must contain shelves, furnishings and merchandise. During the opening hours, however, the rule can be transgressed and within certain limits admits trespassing.
To enhance the authenticity of the character of the place, each has been authorized to design their own bench freely. The wooden structure that defines the sales spaces houses all the fire-fighting systems, signs, signs, lighting and each counter has been equipped with running water to allow operators to sell also processed products (cut and washed vegetables and pieces of fruit) . The choice of using wood for the construction of the structures of the counters and for the entrance doors was made for its cheapness, durability and flexibility. It admits all sorts of personalization and communicates the idea of renewal. It is reassuring, widely associated with the "organic" and all that is natural.
Material Used :
1. Marazzi - Block
