BALESTRATE SEAFRONT
Redevelopment of the waterfront
Client: Municipality of Balestrate - PO FESR 2007/2013
Team: AM3 architetti associati, Studio Cangemi sas
Location: Balestrate (PA), Italy
Year: 2014
Project status: completed
Photo: Mauro Filippi
Special mention ‘Giovane Talento dell’Architettura Italiana 2015’
Selected at Italian Pavilion – Taking Care | Biennale Architettura 2016 ‘Reporting from the front’
The seafront in Balestrate is a thin white strip of land lying between the geometrically built residential area of the town and the uncertain and changing profile of the beach lapped by the sea waves. Along that strip of land rests a paved promenade with wooden footbridges and steps which plunge into the sand like slender offshoots leading towards the sea water. It consists of a few elements which are repeated along the waterfront with some variations now and then, and it is built with local essential materials: indeed, it appears like a very simple frame compared to the beauty of the surrounding panorama.
The seafront has given the designers the opportunity to show how the quality of architecture can and should be deployed, above all, in the care of public spaces of daily use. In fact, by employing significantly the financial resources available, the project has managed to turn a simple intervention of emergency maintenance into an operation of environmental and urban redevelopment of the coastal space, a public good par excellence.
CONDIVIDI