What it is. Urban Center Firenze [Porta Novoli] is a permeabile, transparent environment devoted to producing and circulating material on the city of Florence. It is not merely an exhibit space, but rather a structure that acts as an integrated system of communication, capable of strongly involving the public and of constantly stimulating the attention of the media. It is the very tool through which the city divulges its changes and visions to the public. The Urban Center has a specific location, but its presence is nevertheless widespread; it is like a ubiquitous structure that overlaps and adheres to the city. Urban Center Firenze [Porta Novoli] is the city itself that fully understands its role and ascribes a social and economic value to its transformation.
The future of the city tends to be defined in relation to its capacity to produce, elaborate and divulge information. Urban Center Firenze [Porta Novoli] is aware of the necessity to set up appropriate connections and operative tools that go beyond the construction of a specific building or the elaboration of a traditional interior design project. Its awareness of contemporary dynamics brings it to establish a permanent dialogue with other cities.

How it works. Urban Center Firenze [Porta Novoli] is conceived as an Operating System (OS). A reflection on the role of communication tecnhologies and on the need to set up a network convinced us to associate the structure of the Urban Center Firenze to a dynamic machine which is ready to produce, elaborate and exhibit information. This led to the definition of a permeable and constantly evolving framework, capable of ensuring a high level of interactivity between the city administration and its citizens. The Operating System of the Urban Center Firenze takes advantage of available technologies and networks in order to collect data, monitor the territory and produce material related to the contemporary urban condition and to its future modifications. A database and a series of communication devices (which are located inside the Urban Center Firenze as well as outside, thanks to several networks) will produce a wide circulation of documents, exhibits and information in general.

PROJECT CREDITS

architects
Marco Brizzi, Paolo Danelli, Paola Giaconia, Jacopo Marello, Elena Sacco

consultant
Roberto Paci Dalò

collaborator
Marcello Gross