The work described in these pages relates to the project for the construction of the new sports hall in the municipality of Casalmaggiore, in the province of Cremona.

This intervention stems from the municipal administration’s desire to create a structure that can be of benefit to the entire territory, becoming a focal point for sports activities and events at a supra-municipal level.

In accordance with this desire, the proposed project aims to combine economic feasibility, efficiency and excellence, both from the energy-supply and building-architectural points of view.

From a planimetric point of view, the design of the new gymnasium is comparable in size to the extension of the typical farmhouse in the lower Lombardy region.

In the layout of the plan, reference was therefore made to the distribution scheme and proportions of the historical farmstead typology: with the building bodies arranged in a courtyard around a large central space.

Transposed in the design of the sports hall in Casalmaggiore, the empty space of the courtyard is ideally represented by the playing field, with the service rooms arranged along the south and east sides.

The compositional clarity of the intervention is given by the rationalisation of the holes and the synthesis of formal and material elements.

The base and the emerging volume, in fact, are configured as monolithic elements “emptied” punctually by large flared niches that identify the entrances and main openings.

The glazed parts, concentrated in a few large partitions, will be realised by an orderly scanning of the window and door frames and by the use of “dark brown” shades for the latter as well, in order to dissimulate their presence in the context.

The simulations made with photorealistic renderings show how the building fits silently into its context and how its presence does not distract attention from the historical pre-existences and towards the natural landscape.