The plaza occupies a 9000 sqm surface within the historical fortressed city of Peschiera del Garda, whose venetian walls were recently enlisted into the UNESCO world heritage list. The plaza is the largest open space within the city’s walls and its name “Piazza d’Armi” (Armory Plaza) comes from its use as a training area for military troops. Strongly characterized by the presence of a military heritage of exceptional value, the site has required a respectful and delicate approach with the idea of restoring the lost hierarchy and reconnecting the past and the future. The architectural response both to the required functional program which demanded a clear area for at least 150 parking spaces and its close dialogue with the residential tissue of the historical city center has been resolved through the introduction of a subtle edge of stone that retraces the ancient trajectory of the 1614 dock.
The urban sector once occupied by the presence of the water of the dock is today a space dedicated to the functional necessity of been a parking area and is characterized by chromatically diverse pavings. Porphyry has been used for this area of the plaza in a series of diverse typologies according to its use: concrete gravel and rounded and squared cobblestones. The area has been concluded with a descent towards the water through large urban stairs, re-creating the relationship between the water and the public space, lost over the years.
This trajectory line defined by trachite zovonite stone, varies along its progression; from horizontal markings on the ground it rises to form seating, it bends to allows passing, it continues to creating railings and returns indefinitely to fuse together with the paving.
The pedestrian setting that develops along the only urban front and along which all the activities of the plaza are projected, is characterized by a paving in white stone pietra della Lessinia that creates a homogenous light colored surface. Geometries of larger dimensions and various superficial elaborations of the same material were used for the external atrium of the church and the area surrounding the fountain which distinguish themselves through their difference in height in comparison to their surroundings.