Antico Lavatoio in Via Mario Lupo - Bergamo Alta
URBAN HAVEN # RIFUGIO URBANO

How can we feel better in the city?

This question gave rise to Urban Haven # Rifugio Urbano.

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The project envisages the Antico Lavatoio as a place that offers a respite from the daily grind: a space where people can slow down, meet up and simply feel at ease.

Not a garden to be admired, but an environment to be experienced.

As they make their way through the Lavatoio, visitors encounter a sequence of different spaces: some more intimate and quiet, others more open and convivial. Light, shade, greenery and furnishings work together to create different atmospheres and guide people through an experience of wellbeing, discovery and connection.

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The lightweight structures that run through the project define its rhythm and design: a web of lines and intersections that evokes the very idea of Urban Haven # Rifugio Urbano, built on connections, permeability and relationships. They support the greenery and filter the light, without ever taking centre stage. By day, they create shadows, transparency and movement; by night, they transform into luminous elements capable of altering the perception of space.

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The vegetation is not intended merely as decoration, but as a living element of the design: it creates a sense of freshness, movement and depth, helping to make the space more welcoming and comfortable.

The furnishings also play a key role. They are not simply objects placed within the space, but tools that invite people to pause, meet, chat or take a moment for themselves. In this way, they become an integral part of the experience and the creation of a sense of wellbeing.

The route unfolds through three distinct atmospheres.

Near the historic washhouse, the space is quieter and more contemplative, almost an invitation to listen to the place and its history.

In the central section, visitors pass through a sequence of spaces that are constantly changing through the interplay of light, vegetation and shadows.

In the final section, the space opens up to interaction and socialising, becoming a place to share time, ideas and relationships.

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Urban Haven # Rifugio Urbano is a temporary refuge in the heart of the city. A place where vegetation, light, furnishings and people come together to create a new concept of urban wellbeing: simple, welcoming and deeply human.

 

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© Arch. paes. Katuscia Ratto