EX MILITARY ARSENAL OF TURIN:Functional recovery and transformation of part of the complex to productive activities - artisan, public services and service activities for persons and companies city of Turin S.IN.AT.E.C.spa 1999-2001.
The Council of Turin has outlined, with the Feasibility Project approved by Council decision of 1995, the guide lines for the recovery of the entire area of the ex-Military Arsenal.
The Feasibility Study includes the opening of a new road along the course of the old Molassi Canal which has been closed and covered over for decades. The new road puts the heart of the Balôn in communication with via del Fortino which runs parallel to the Dora and which today is interrupted by the wall of the ex-Arsenal. The new road reduces the isolation of, and renders accessible, a central area of large dimensions constituted for the most part by the structure of the ex-Military Arsenal. The building project illustrated here represents, of the feasibility plan outlined above, the ideal fulcrum: for its implementation the Council has obtained a contribution in compliance with Reg. EEC 2081/93 and has identified, as actuator subject, the Intervention Company, SINATEC Spa.
The intervention involves the opening of the new road and the transformation of two areas which have to date remained closed to the public within the old Military Arsenal: the area of the furnaces, destined to become the piazza "del grande maglio"; and a smaller area next to it called "piazza del ciliegio". The complex which is created from the transformation of the buildings here will be suitable for housing artisan and trade workshops, thereby reinforcing those functions whch already enliven the Borgo Dora district.
THE NEW ROAD The part of the new road in relation to the project indicated by the images is similar to the Turin side lanes as they used to be before their transformation into car parks. In the centre there is a row of tall trees; on one side there is the vehicle lane, paved with cobbles; and on the other, a wide pavement in Lucerne stone.
As the same level as the long wing of the ex-Arsenal and running along it (150 m) there is a fountain-canal forming a small body of water which, while rendering the route more amenable also evokes the presence of the old Molassi canal.
PIAZZA DEL MAGLIO The main piazza is very striking: perfectly defined by a square surface area of forty metres by forty, enclosed by the walls of four perimeter wings, it is evocatively covered by four trapezoidal sheets, forming a truncated pyramid where even the upper base is open. From this upper hole the zenith light pours down onto the great forge, a pre-existing element and catalyser of the entire space. The perimeter strip of the covering surface is transparent and a raking light illuminates the facades of the workshops and commercial activities that have been planned.
The ample cover is a feature that is strongly articulated in its hierarchical structure: four inclined steel poles sustain, starting from the diagonals, the scaffolding elements characterised by a technical play of tie rods and struts, of iron and wood. The metal poles also have the task of dramatically exalting the old forge, an enormous artefact from a past industrial age, redolent of fatigue and machines which impregnated this environment for over a century.
PIAZZA DEL CILIEGIO Piazza del ciliegio, directly connected to both the new road and the piazza "del maglio" is characterised by a space that is more sober and less dramatic than the previous one. In this interstitial loop there prevails a domestic dimension in which the private space of the workshops is in close symbiosis with the public one. The small piazza has almost the look of a portico cloister dominated by its enormous cherry tree. Some other recently planted trees complete the ensemble. The paving is, as with the rest of piazza "del maglio", in blocks of grey syenite.

Main dimensional data total sq.m.
SURFACE 13,179 sq.m.
P.T useful area 2,847 sq.m.
INTERMEDIATE FLOORS useful area
(Sub-ambient B), 1st Floor ( sub C) 1,740 sq.m.
TOTAL USEFUL AREA 4,587 sq.m.
Passage ways 316 sq.m.
Services 296 sq.m.
PIAZZA ROOFING 1,635 sq.m.
Pertinences 2,247 sq.m.
EXTERNAL AREAS (incl. sup. Piazza) 9,919 sq.m.

The project consists in the transformation of part of the buildings of the ex-Arsenal of Borgo Dora in Turin in a complex which is suitable for housing artisan and trade workshops and for service activities and which functions as a fulcrum for the "Balôn" in Turin and in the creation of a new stretch of urban road (sub-ambients Q2 and Q3)
The most important structure is constituted by the transformation of one of the four courtyards of the Arsenal into a covered piazza surrounded by the display windows of the workshops. The roof of the square piazza is made up of a truncated pyramid in lamina wood sustained in the roof ridges by four steel flagpoles which, branching out, reach the convergence nodes of the lattice works which comprise the four roof sheets.

The premises for the commercial and service activities will be assigned by means of ban with one concession of the surface right of 99 years.
The Gate project has led, in the search of definition of the commercial categories to insert in the new spaces, a workshop whose turned out are looked up in the Office of The Gate.
Moreover The Gate will make part of the Commission that will estimate and select the candidates.

Executive project approved 16th October 2001 (per saperne di più)
Works' beginning spring 2002 (foreseen for around a year)
Overall estimated cost of the intervention 2.066.000.000 Euro

Mobility and environment division
Public Spaces Requalification Sector New Works Public Ground Sector
e-mail: paola.giordano@comune.torino.it