edifici a scala del territorio: torino e porto, due grandi impianti sportivi a confronto

Abstract

Big events, such as Olympic Games, Universal Expositions, European Cultural Capital, etc., are based on a system of “infrastructure-buildings”, able to host the happenings related with such events, to represent or reinvent the city itself and to improve the area they settle in, in particular in terms of accessibility. It is questionable whether these infrastructure-buildings, usually gathering crowds from far beyond the city limits, are able to interact with the rest of the city, renewing at least the parts around the building itself, or are isolated objects incapable to “make city”. This paper is focused on two very new infrastructure-buildings, both created to qualify the area they are built in, and both in the midst of sportive and recreational areas former in need to be renewed and to be better linked with the around. Analysing these two infrastructure-buildings may help us to understand the impact these kinds of buildings have on the area the are built in and on the city as a whole. The effects of the transformations related with Arata Isozaki’s Palahockey (built for the Winter Olympic game, Turin 2006) and Manuel Salgado’s Stadium Dragão (built for the European Soccer Championship, 2004) are good examples of new centralities and they show how it is possible, working on morphological, functional, and symbolic qualities, to re-invent urban spaces and residential costumes in contemporary cities.