The proposal aims to use the potential of the area to become a hinge between the surrounding centralities. The main engine of this redevelopment is la Corte Verde, a new generation food and horticultural market, architecturally integrated to the natural environment.

The former ATVO bus station will become a new dynamic urban area where people converge into a continuous flow and where the public realm extends under the roofs and behind the facades of the built surfaces.

The iconic 18m tall arch of the former ATVO building is now open to invite visitors and residents of San Donà into a new ecosystem. This gateway leads into a unique and dense urban forest which re-introduces native vegetation on a permeable soil.

 

The new market proposal envisages a modular and flexible framework that enables representation and ownership of local stakeholders and users groups. The market stalls modules can be used individually or grouped in clusters. The building becomes a flexible, responsive element to meet the current and future needs of the local stakeholders.

To support a 24/7 strategy, we envisage the inclusion of complementary spaces such as cinema and theatre to encourage both evening and afternoon activities. La Corte Verde will offer an interesting and varied day and evening programme to move an all-day economy as well as to create a safe environment through natural surveillance.

 

La Corte Verde is inspired by the historic hygrofil forest that used to occupy the territory before the land reclamation process.  The proposal aims to preserve the naturalistic identity of the place by bringing back nature to the city centre, fostering biodiversity and creating a less vulnerable landscape, specific to the climate in and around San Donà.

The proposed landscape will be linked to a water management system through the implementation of Blue Roofs, Rain Gardens and Phytodepuration process to achieve a sustainable water harvesting cycle.

Compelling activities, fresh air, greenery, and beautiful spaces, will encourage visitors to stay, make the place their own. The vegetation reduces the heat island effect, filters the air, and floods the environment with oxygen, providing shade and cover in summer and wind protection in winter. In short, it will give San Donà a “climatising machine”

La Corte Verde will always be 10 degrees better than the outside!

 

The modular timber structure is wrapped and protected by an exterior bioclimatic skin that opens and closes to control the ventilation and solar gain. In this way, it is possible to control the internal temperature and guarantee a base of comfort in the circulation spaces as well as in the in-between spaces, minimising the mechanical ventilation.

PV panels cover the timber roof structure, providing clean energy to the market as well as filtering the sunlight.

The proposal supports the objectives of the European Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategy, extending the sustainability strategy at the market source and supporting the transition to a sustainable food system. We envision a space dedicated to local business and manufacturers, where food is sourced locally and its waste is reduced and recycled.

The proposal will create new green jobs and support the Circular Economy, to revitalise the San Donà city centre and the commercial district.

 

The modular, timber structure design is driven by functional and sustainability principles. The entire structure and architectural components are designed for disassembly, to ensure that every component and material can be recycled as efficiently as possible at the end of its lifespan.

La Corte Verde will target a carbon negative status, optimising both the embodied Carbon and operational Carbon through the whole life cycle of the project. It will be an exemplary regenerative architecture, a pilot project to promote the values of sustainability and supply clean energy to the city.

 

La Corte Verde promotes new possibilities to inhabit the cities and to face climate change, establishing new synergies and inclusive environments.