A Red Carpet for Piazza Grande

The medieval core of Locarno arose at the mountain foot, curving sinuously toward the lake up to the old Visconti Castle with its port. Over centuries, Maggia River alluvium extended the delta, altering the relationship between the old core and the lake. The 19th-century Rusca Plan reclaimed the delta, removed the old port (now a parking area), and created a new district on an orthogonal grid, ending with the Rusca Gardens. The Sopracenerina construction and post office formed Piazza Grande, an interstitial and dual-faced space defined by buildings of two different eras. While the old town maintains a clear limit with its sinuous porticos, the Rusca Plan ends with its gardens and the park between Largo Zorzi and Via Ciseri. The project concept includes a rectangular element concluding the Rusca Plan toward the old sinuous shoreline. The “red carpet” boulevard overlays the old cobbles, defining a precise boundary between two typologies. The red carpet forms the base of the post office and Sopracenerina buildings, incorporating a spine with Rusca garden beds, a pavilion opposite the theatre, a fountain, and parking access. The space between the portico and the new element becomes unified, from the lake to Piazza Grande, maintaining the original cobblestone surface. The proposal seeks a continuous space extending from Piazza Grande to the Debarcadero. With F. Buzzi