San Valentino Park in Pordenone: work on the first inclusive park in Italy has been completed
Paysage article – Topscape 42
An intertwining of historical and natural values linked to the origins of Pordenone, a city of water and factories, the San Valentino Urban Park is today an inclusive park, where the design of the landscape is the protagonist in creating relationships and emotions accessible to all.
The play area interacts with the landscape because it was designed and not assembled. The measures derived from the world of disability find a new declination and become an opportunity to experience, without realizing it, the advantages of accessibility.
Reading a book in the shade of the trees, watching the geese in the water, playing together with other children are possible experiences for anyone at the San Valentino inclusive park, inaugurated in September 2020 and financed by the Pier Antonio Locatelli Onlus Foundation. The design approach is discreet, aimed at enhancing what is already present - the former Galvani paper mill building, the San Valentino lake, the tall trees, the resurgence areas - connecting episodes that are revealed little by little. Walking, you discover a landscape composed of elements that - according to the principles of Universal Design – they welcome, accompany, suggest multiple ways of use, addressing indifferently children, adults and the elderly regardless of individual characteristics determined by age or disability, be it motor, sensorial, cognitive: this is the essence of the inclusive park. The quality of the routes defines the first requirement: for a place to be inclusive it is clear that it must first and foremost be reachable. In the project, the routes reproduce existing routes; instead, the transversal and longitudinal slopes were re-studied: the latter, accentuated in the section in front of the former paper mill, were resolved by creating routes where flat areas interrupt sections with constant and contained slopes, reaching the limit of 5% only in some short segments.
New floors in stabilized Sarone, coming from local quarries, have replaced the loose gravel, resulting in natural-looking but easy-to-walk paths. The environmental communication of the routes is expressed in the integrated natural guide - consisting of the terracotta-colored curb present along the cycle/pedestrian path
– and in the change of material that indicates the "outdoor rooms", small lounges set back from the passage and surrounded by trees and sky where the arrangement of the benches, of different types, can spontaneously accommodate a stroller or a person in a wheelchair ; each outdoor room guides the gaze to discover one of the park's riches, such as the delicate lowland with streams of spring water and Sedge spp. First among the park's riches is Lake San Valentino, for years hidden by a thick hedge. To rediscover it, a three-level walkway has been placed on its bank, connected to each other by both steps and light ramps, from which it is possible to overlook the water, see the historic Poletti-Marchi villa, observe the fauna that inhabits the lake , reach the refreshment area which opens onto the highest level and is now equipped with a suggestive area for drinks. In the background, surrounded by the branches of the trees, the play area appears.
From the meeting between nature, elements designed by the project and games free standing derives a playful landscape to interpret, where spontaneous and imaginative games can arise from the settings. In defining the gaming experiences, the starting point of the project, we chose to favor playing together, studying solutions also for children with disabilities: the child can invent his own game and overcome small but big challenges with the help of his parents, with friends, alone. The colored surfaces of the floors fold and become soft benches that surround and protect, they become volumes with heights to be conquered in different ways - by climbing, climbing the ladder, walking along the ramp: surfaces and volumes are landscape that becomes a story, inspired by the history of site and the former paper mill. In the inclusive playground, discovery and knowledge through play are available to everyone and are also achieved through the senses: manipulating the sand, peeking through the peephole, crawling inside the tunnel, caressing the grassy fabrics, feeling different materials under your feet, drawing with chalk, steering the bucket, getting wet with water sprays, holding the leaves of the "baby" maple with your hand, discovering with touch, with seen or heard the map of the park and its history.
Landscapers Francesco Casola, Erica Gaiatto – Global Project Inclusive Architecture
Graduates in Architecture at the IUAV in Venice, they started the studio in 2004, immediately approaching accessible design and remaining fascinated by it. Designing public and private spaces without architectural barriers and inclusive, and personally following their construction on site, has led the studio to a concrete specialization, constantly enriched by comparison with stakeholder. The firm is a consultant to public and private bodies on accessibility matters.
