Ex Galateo

What: International design competition - Building renovation “Ex Galateo”
Who: Region of Puglia, Municipality of Lecce, Society Puglia Valore Immobiliare and the Arca Sud Salento
Where: Lecce - Italia
When: 2020
AREA: 30.000 mq
AREA49: Marilena Magalotti, Ilaria Camera, Davide Camera, Marco Grazioli, Giacomo Penco, Marta Ingrosso

The goal of the project is to create a real solidarity building at the service of the city and of those sections of the population that, most in difficulty, have the need for support and inclusion. The solidarity building will not only have functions related to residential but also support and service functions that can be used both by the tenants and by the city, making the building an attractive pole and point of reference. The functions that will be linked to care, assistance, nutrition, aggregation, will be conceived with a solidarity perspective involving realities linked to the third sector. The existing building will be completely redesigned from a functional, distribution and access point of view. The typological conformation of the building will be enhanced in the project by completely modifying the way it will be used and will relate to the city.

The central body of the building will acquire new value, becoming in fact the main entrance and a hub of the new system of functions. The adjacent courtyards will be gently lowered, creating squares in front of the building, effectively transforming the partially basement floor of the existing building into a new ground floor accessible directly from the outside spaces and from the city. To allow for a mending with the surrounding urban fabric, the open spaces pertaining to the building will be rethought and made more fluid and usable, becoming tree-lined urban squares open to the city thanks to the partial removal of the enclosure wall.