Recently, the Municipality of Carpi wanted to create a mediation between the historic city and the extensive agricultural space located behind the railway line, in order to meet the needs of the citizens who contributed to the project and expressed the desire to have a green area that would allow them to practice sports, relax outdoors and reconnect with nature.
The result is the design of the masterplan of the Oltreferrovia Park conceived by MC A – Mario Cucinella Architects, with PAISÀ Landscape: it was designed as a space in continuous evolution, which can be developed over time to adapt to the needs of the community.
Following the grid of the agricultural landscape, the design is divided into “rooms” or spaces divided into three thematic macro-categories:
- events and services, with the main entrances to the new Park, accessed from the new railway underpass, a place that until recently had been a break between the historic center of the city and the agricultural mesh “beyond” the railway, now the starting point of the park and of the cycle-pedestrian paths that connect the Park with the new University Center and with the Residential Districts;
- equipped rooms, dedicated to dynamic activities such as free body fitness and characterized by equipped fields, picnic areas and bbqs, reading and relaxation areas and play areas for children;
- natural rooms where the focus is about creating biodiverse environments and attentive to the typicality of the place, with social and thematic gardens, flower fields, woods…
The landscape project moves towards the restoration of the various landscape memories of the Po valley; the reticulated morphology of the agricultural landscape mixes with the new design, a centered belvedere determines the sense of openness of the large central lawn, enhancing the visual continuity with the historic city and with the neighboring countryside.
Finally, from the large central green heart, the landscape permeates to the north and south, through tree-lined rows that follow the pedestrian axes, in a sort of extension of naturalness.
Mario Cucinella said:
“Oltreferrovia Park will act as a connector as well as a leaf carries sap through its ribs. The Park will reconnect the historic center to a new oasis of biodiversity open to citizens of all ages. Our will is to create an attractive experience and a point of reference for the entire Carpi community where being outdoors turns into a special emotion.”
