COCÀI

The landscape design for the New Piazzale Ex Scuole in Lugano, stems from the desire to accompany and emphasise the strong pedestrian significance of the open space, as well as to make it part of the city’s network, making the new Piazzale a perfectly integrated part of the existing urban fabric. Since it is an important intermodal junction and access point to the city, it was of fundamental importance to give it as much identity as possible, also through nature, which must once again become an integral part of the urban open public space: hence the creation of a ‘horizontal forest’ as part of a generative and flexible system which, inserted in such a way as to create a close dialogue with the structure of a large canopy, defines a new area of the city that is unique and extremely liveable, in line with the principles of well-being and sustainability that are essential in addressing the design of public space in a contemporary and up-to-date way. While the network of trees defines the area dedicated to public transport, the rest of the district is characterised by a series of tree rows that both accompany pedestrians along the main streets where services and commercial activities are mostly located, and create a unified and connected image of the streets themselves, which then branch off towards the city and the lake.