The S. Girolamo- Fesca district, competition’s object, is located north-west of Bari and has a polutation of 13.000 people. It develops along the coast for over a km and is located in between tow important “lame”: Lamasinata and Lama Balice.


The competion’s aims can be summarized in the following points:

1. To provide the district with a new identity through the renovation and revitalization of the relationship between the city structure and the seaside. With this purpose new urban areas with high social and landscape value will be realized.

2. To make use of the water to bring out the beauty of the urban landscape in a balanced combination between the nature and the human settlement; the waterfront is therefore an enviromental resource to be used, respected and valorized.

3. To boost the economic and social activities to contribute to the district social-economic regeneration and to increase the value of the state-owned dismissed and underutilized areas (beach activities, free time, catering, nautical basin)

4. To renovate the pedestrian waterfront with new activities: service activities, free time areas, sport, bathing, and social meeting. In this process the projects aims not only to attract the district attention but also the people from the outside. With this purpose the project aims to design on the sea an appealing structure with scientific and tourist interests in the sea. Thus the scale is larger than local.

5. To ensure visibility, security and accessibility of public spaces, as well as the sustainability of the works.

6. To protect the waterfront from the physical assault of water, which gradually erodes the coast, with landscape, physical and biological protection works compatible with the environment, using local natural materials (limestone rocks). Enrichment of the coast line with creating new spaces for bathing and recreation.

7. To renovate and to make the mobility system in the district more sustainable by a more efficient carriageway in the waterfront and by adding areas mainly designed for pedestrians and bycycles. This streamline becomes important especially considering the inclusion of a new urban water transport connecting Torre a Mare, S. Nicola pier, the cruise terminal, Palese and S. Spirit. The sea connection would also support both urban mobility and significant tourist flows, especially motivated by a new structure of high visibility and interest by the water.

8. To introduce an architectural and functional structure on an urban and territorial scale (the Aquarium) which will represent a strong architectural element. This element projected toward the sea, integrated with the water activities and suspended over the water will create a strong connection between the city and the sea. Ultimately it will represent a highly symbolic element of the neighborhood renewal. It could be also assumed the construction of a strong attraction structure for leisure, such as a 3D cinema I-MAX included with facilities for leisures and services.

9. To ensure the sustainability of the works and the energy self-sufficiency through the use of renewable resources (water and sunlight)

10. To integrate the public and the private interventions in an overall financial strategy that will make economically feasible the implementation of water-front design. The strategy should then identify the program of the works in independent oteps to allow over time a gradual realization compatible with the available financial resources.

The themes of the project can be summarized in the following interventions:


The aquarium as a real attraction pole

For the functional and architectural necessity to promote relations among the district, the city and the territory it is required a structure connected to the sea and its use. This structure should have a very wide catchment area; should be able to attract schools on weekdays and working hours, tourists during holidays and not working hours as well as the considerable flow of cruise passengers. Ultimately it should have a national level of “appeal" but in the end will be purely keep the root of "Bari" city. So a big, important Aquarium.
But the Aquarium is not just for fish tanks: it is a museum, a place of study and research, recreation and leisure; will have libraries, offices, meeting rooms, restaurants, bars and wide parkings;



The area between the buildings and the beach

This area, now occupied almost entirely by roads suitable for vehicles, has been completely redefined with an exclusive attention to pedestrians maintaining a single lane and emergency service along the buildings, and equipping the public space with bycicle path. The elements that characterize this section of the waterfront, starting from the buildings are the following:


• the pedestrian space and the private green to be implemented with the planting of a row of trees to achieve a homogeneous continuous with the characteristic of real nature contrasting the typical artificial sequence. The trees will also play a bioclimatic role, shading during the summer the pedestrian spaces and the buildings;

• the bike path bordered by flowerbeds bushy;

• a row of palms that characterize the squares and the most qualified green spaces of Bari

• a continuous walkway, along the waterfront district, equipped with benches and element of urban furniture, stone paved with cobblestones proceedings, interrupted by a satin flower beds to allow drainage of water and equipped with Loges paths for the visually impaired

• a low wall of limestone overlooking the beach;

• terraced steps down to the sea filled with pebbles


Le sistemazioni a verde
The Green areas

The objectives achieved by the creation of green areas proposed in this project context are of two types: the coastal development combined with the low cost of maintenance of species chosen. These are made with the appropriate choice of species, with both aesthetic valuable and resistance to adverse environmental factors, particularly salinity and prolonged drought in spring-summer. The common thread between the different areas is the proposition of native species of the Mediterranean area.


La spiaggia e le opere a mare
The Beach and the works by the sea

The main objective has been expanding and renovating the areas intended for public bathing in order to provide more opportunities for public swimming (beaches for over 1500 mt long and 30 mt in width =over 45,000 m2) with combined facilities and equipment for leisure, walks, parking and catering. The coastline will be therefore rebuilt extending the depth of the beach and giving the same characterization of the past: pebbles and sand. Beach activities will be maintained, but the equipment (booths, bars, restaurants, stores) will be included between the lookout for pedestrians and the beach, therefore they will not represent a hinder to the perception of the water.
The new maritime works are divided in hard works (dams spaced and brushes) and soft works to ensure the “Lungomare“ and the new Water Front will not be subjected to waves aggression.