An “Urban” Hospital in Verona
Reuse and renovation of the building complex of the Ospedale Civile Maggiore in Verona
The Adige river borders the district of Borgo Trento on three sides, leaving the hills and mountains on the north side. The district is organized on a network of tree-lined avenues, squares, open spaces and gardens that enclose a low density building of limited height. In analogy with the neighborhood, the original layout of the hospital is conceived as a set of pavilions surrounded by greenery structured on roads and tree-lined paths. The project does not impose new directions to the district but takes its cue from the “urban landscape” of Borgo Trento proposing a reinterpretation. The river becomes the front of the new hospital: a scenic “fifth”, where cones and visual guidelines overlap.
The reading of the morphological and landscape characteristics has suggested an conceived project, not as an operation of replacing old buildings with new buildings, but as an articulated building complex that innervates the existing hospital and integrates with the city and the place. The ground floor of the hospital is conceived as a free floor: a large garden crossed by a network of paths that connect the hospital functions and activities. The green areas have a double value: they are used as a place of rest and rest for patients and as an urban public garden “heart” of the future plant.
