Headquarters of the IRCCS Stella Maris foundation in Pisa

“Amore e/è Conoscenza” (Love and/is knowledge) project. Finalist in he Idea selection in two phases

Selection in two phases issued by the IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris of Calambrone (province of Pisa) for the new headquarters of the scientific healthcare, research and training centre to be created in Cisanello, in the province of Pisa.

The project, selected in the first phase with two others among the 28 proposed, was a finalist in the second phase.

The idea proposed aimed to represent the founding principals of the institute, underlining not only the high quality of service offered and the depth of scientific knowledge involved, but also the care and attention shown to the individual and the spirituality with which this mission is performed: “The building as a symbol of the Stella Maris foundation“.

The new structure should open up to the outside world, connecting effectively to the Hospital in Cisanello, in a system of integration of treatment and skills, hosting children and their families in an ideal context that is suited to their needs, having the necessary flexibility to guarantee the greatest possible functionality of the building in time: “a building open to integration that meets the users’ needs”.

The new headquarters must have high operational capacity and allow effective treatment. The structure must be flexible, sustainable, welcoming and pleasant for parents and staff and manageable with the use of the most appropriate resources: “the building as part of the treatment process”.

The structure must be able to treat the children, at the same time allowing them to maintain their personal integrity, the concept of their family, their personal space, avoiding the processes of alienation and segregation which are often part of hospital experience. A building must be designed that allows the children to find what they don’t have, or have lost without this search getting in the way of what they have maintained: “architecture at the service of the individual”.

The building must fit harmoniously and naturally into the existing context, to give greater value to an area destined to become a green lung for the area, with a calling for physical and mental well-being and the relationship with nature, in an intertwining relationship. A building needs to be designed that can take advantage of the benefits that the natural context can offer, a sustainable building for emissions and consumption, manageable with the most appropriate use of resources: “a green and sustainable building”.

We tried to bring this design content together in the logo of the project, where the image of the Virgin inspires and creates the building in a welcoming, protective embrace, which will ideally envelop all the children who turn to the hospital to find care and comfort. The pay off, “Amore e/è Conoscenza” (Love and/is Knowledge) represents the two souls of the foundation, which acts according to heart and reason, two elements that feed off each other, one inspiring assistance and research and the other at the service of the first to transform a positive impulse towards our fellows into a concrete forms of quality help.

The building therefore has a courtyard structure, but empties out at the access points (public and for staff) to allow the garden to enter the building using the theme of water and to perceive the heart of the structure from the park in a dialogue with the natural element that enters into the hospital to create physical and perceptive involvement with the urban green areas, a place which is a symbol of well-being and social life.