Prato Central Park: Treasure Memory of the Place

OBR Paolo Brescia and Tommaso Principi with Michel Desvigne Paysagiste won first prize in the international competition launched by the Municipality of Prato, Italy to design a 3-hectare park in the heart of the city, after the demolition of the former Misericordia e Dolce hospital. The jury, chaired by architect Bernard Tschumi, convened to select the winner among 10 finalists. The winning project stood out for its ability to offer to the city of Prato an original, innovative and practical solution.

Altogether, the 10 proposals express new ideas on the contemporary city and on its relationship with the landscape. The competition thus reached its final stage and offers to the city a concrete proposal for it Parco Centrale (Central Park): one of the strategic objectives for the Municipality of Prato. The team, formed by experienced professionals, is characterized by a clear vision and a solid mix of different abilities. The new park interprets the need for a contemporary space that is catering to the historical city. At a time of great design creativity for the Municipality of Prato, the results of the competition for the Parco Centrale adds yet another voice to the important and innovative debate on contemporaneity that is currently underway in the city.

The winning project pays a lot of attention to the urban fabric of the city of Prato and to its extreme regularity: an orthogonal grid which, as a trace of the ‘cardo’ and the ‘decumano’ of the Roman grid, is still very persistent and is striking for its spatial and temporal diffusion.

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Materials provided by OBR Paolo Brescia e Tommaso Principi