A community centre focused on the enabling of circular product cycles in the walled Italian town of Castelfranco Veneto

Based in the town of Castelfranco Veneto in the North-East of Italy, The aim of the project is threefold: To provide new access to and invigorate the green belt for the citizens of Castelfranco, to introduce and maintain a new culture of repair and reuse by providing services to repair, resell and remake old or used electronics, household items, and furniture, and finally to provide new product streams for the local market to increase its resilience to changing populations and an increasingly globalized economy.

Every year thousands of tons of used but easily repairable items are sent prematurely to landfill because people do not know how, or do not have the facilities to repair them. The sooner people can be encouraged to repair more and use less, the faster nations can reduce their climate impact on a global scale.

The design is based around the Open-Building concept, which requires all non-structural elements of the construction to be demountable and deconstruct-able to extend the lifespan of the building. This concept also allows the building to adapt quickly and cheaply to changes of use, further extending its expected lifespan.
The scheme is positioned low under the wall to preserve the Iconic views, as well as to tie it more closely into its surroundings. The design pulls influence from the northern Italian semi-circular arch market hall typology to associate the new project with the ancient market of the town, which the project looks onto. The deepest elements of the building form a concrete ‘spine’ that is designed through the Servant/Served spacial organisation method pioneered by Louis Kahn, which allows the primary (served) spaces to be free from clutter of smaller and more functional spaces such as WCs, plant rooms and storage.
The project was primarily designed through physical model-making and Sketchup, as well as many, many tracings.

I am happy with the overall outcome of this project. As with any of my designs I can see areas that I would improve if I had the time, but I can say for certain that I believe that this project would have a positive impact on the community it is designed for.