The design of the settlement layout is based on the recognition of
landform. The project re-proposes latent settlement rules, yet consolidated,
able to recover the structuring capacity of the layout and its landscape value.
Six buildings of 60 m long are arranged in the lot according to a north-south
orientation with slightly changes in direction. A wall of dry stone delimits
the project on the west side and marks the boundary between the industrial area
and the new residential compound on the edge of the Tavola old village.
The massive wall has the function to reduce the hydrologic risk due to
the vicinity of a riverbank and to the alluvial origin of the terrain. The wall
brings unity to the new residential development formed by several construction
phases, different clients and users.
The wall structure is built with metal gabions filled with local
limestone loose rocks. This technique refers to the local building tradition of
dry stone walls. The technology of gabions, currently used for hydraulic interventions,
has the characteristics of mass, strength and thickness of a dry stone wall and
has a limited impact on the intervention’s budget. It evokes a water bank and refers
to the origin of the site alluvial plain.
Overall, the stone wall recalls the relationship between the buildings
of the historic center of Prato and the ancient walls that surround it.

The project responds to the complexity of the program and avoids the
monotony of a single large-scale intervention through the generation of a wide
variety of public spaces, reminiscent in scale of the walkways of the historic
fabric.
At the first floor level an elevated walkway above the wall connects the
open galleries that give access to the dwellings entrance doors. From this
walkway it is possible to overlook the surrounding hills and landscape and stop
in one of the sight-seeing terraces.
An interior pedestrian promenade crosses the plot lengthwise and is characterized
by a sequence of small public spaces designed as gathering spaces, children
playgrounds, bicycle parking, etc. The promenade connects the different
building blocks providing an access from the public road on the north to the
interior of the residential compound to the south. A shared garden is located
between the two building blocks to the north and along the main road parallel
to the dry stone wall.
The public space is designed in order to provide to everyone the same
opportunity of space fruition allowing disabled people to move freely without
need of technological means.

The row house with private garden, typical of the Tuscan tradition, has
been reinterpreted with the aim of providing each unit with a private outdoor
space and a small kitchen garden. This solution optimizes the need of open public
spaces maintenance and, at the same time, promotes food self-production.
The building blocks present two different facades: the first has a public
character where a gallery gives accesses to each dwelling and overlooks the access
road to the ground floor; the second, more domestic, is open over the private gardens.
The distribution galleries on the first floor are accessible directly from the
dry stone wall through ramps and stairs, as well as by staircases on the top
and center of the buildings.The buildings blocks are simple white plastered volumes on two levels
suspended on a basement of concrete facing walls that delimit the private spaces
on the ground floor.