ECO BAR_reuse of the former ticket office of the sports arena.

The property, owned by the municipality, has been the subject of a call for tenders for the award to private investors, with the aim not only of renovating a run-down but mainly to combine the private’s wishes with the public needs by means of a quality planning. The main goal is to recover the building and simultaneously to improve the quality of the surrounding built-up area in a highly critical neighbourhood. The project involves the realization of an outer skin made of low-cost and reused materials that reshapes the building.

The project is site in the suburbs of Ragusa, in a very low building density area between the outskirts of Ragusa and the new expansion areas; It is a quick transit area where some services for the community persist like the sports facilities (the sports arena, the football stadium, the public swimmingpool and the ridingschool), the street market, the schools, and all their respective huge parking. The wide empty spaces, the low building density and the rare public use (mainly due to occasional events), give to this area the typical features of a “nonplace”. The only distinctive point of reference is the tower of the municipal water tank that overlooks the building and that, with its about 30 meters height, becomes the “flagship” of the area. The publicprivate strategy is to start a commercial activity to serve all the sports facilities but the true challenge is to create a meeting point for the whole community and to trigger a process of urban regeneration.

The project involves the realization of an outer skin made of carpentry wooden slats supported by a metal structure that reshapes the building. The existing openings on the side façades of the building are shielded by the new filter; two new large windows, the one on the entrance and the other one aligned on the opposite face, open up a view on the urban landscape. On the north façade, a part of the casing is designed to be eventually overturned creating outdoor tables. The building envelope shields the technical systems (boiler, air conditioner outdoor unit, water pump, alarm system) and serves as a ventilated wall insulating from cold and heat but also creates a perimeter cavity that becomes deposit of the bar. Inside, a wall enamelled with a green polyurethane resin separates the work area from the customers’ area. Beams and pillars are left in fair-faced concrete to remind the original building. The floor is made of industrial concrete treated with a transparent resin. The bar counter is made of iron sheets and the furniture recall vintage retro styles.