Rehabilitation Projects of the Areas of the Decommissioned …
177
7 Former Military Barracks: From Isolated Fortress
to Place of Integration
The architecture of the barracks introduces in the city the typical features of military
settlements: demarcation and separation from the urban body, introversion of the
system of activities, plurality of typological structure. The presence of spatial differences according to several functional diagrams assigns barracks’ features to the
ones which are distinctive of the city, as it is condensed within the confined horizon
of a separate community: that is to say a real “citadel.”
The divestment military areas and properties represent a potential system of
extraordinary devices able to cope with major social emergencies according to a
logic of integrated mobilization of resources. For each of the four former barracks
has been identified a priority task capable of positive synergies with other activities and functional systems: for prison decongestion (achieved through alternatives
measures to detention): Montello Barracks; for the assistance to the immigrant population: Military Citadel of Baggio; for housing and services for elderly population
and students: Mameli and Mercanti Barracks; for affordable housing and utilities:
Military Citadel of Baggio (Fig. 7).
Fig. 7 Masterplan for the “quartiere delle Milizie” area. Design group: P. Bonaretti, M. Biagi, C.
Pavesi and students of the Scuola di Architettura Civil
177
7 Former Military Barracks: From Isolated Fortress
to Place of Integration
The architecture of the barracks introduces in the city the typical features of military
settlements: demarcation and separation from the urban body, introversion of the
system of activities, plurality of typological structure. The presence of spatial differences according to several functional diagrams assigns barracks’ features to the
ones which are distinctive of the city, as it is condensed within the confined horizon
of a separate community: that is to say a real “citadel.”
The divestment military areas and properties represent a potential system of
extraordinary devices able to cope with major social emergencies according to a
logic of integrated mobilization of resources. For each of the four former barracks
has been identified a priority task capable of positive synergies with other activities and functional systems: for prison decongestion (achieved through alternatives
measures to detention): Montello Barracks; for the assistance to the immigrant population: Military Citadel of Baggio; for housing and services for elderly population
and students: Mameli and Mercanti Barracks; for affordable housing and utilities:
Military Citadel of Baggio (Fig. 7).
Fig. 7 Masterplan for the “quartiere delle Milizie” area. Design group: P. Bonaretti, M. Biagi, C.
Pavesi and students of the Scuola di Architettura Civil