In Castiglione delle Stiviere, in the San Pietro area, on the northern slopes of the town, the BELFANTI+MALACARNE studio (here under, a photo of the team) has built a new changing room building to serve the renovated sports center.

The municipal administration of Castiglione delle Stiviere, in the province of Mantua, through regional funding, wanted to enhance the potential of the existing sports centre through a redevelopment project that included the construction of a new standard-size synthetic turf football pitch and a changing room building to support youth football activities.

The new single-storey building is a compact structure with a single sloping roof. Inside, the layout is designed to maximise usability and minimise maintenance costs, thanks to a simple and rational distribution system.

The building is characterized by its lack of external thermal insulation. In fact, the use of a wall infill made of 45 cm interlocking rectified brick blocks has made it possible to create walls with high thermal performance.

Architecturally, the elements of the construction chase each other as if attempting to draw the outline of the changing room building in Castiglione delle Stiviere with a single line. Some high masonry edges protrude from the composition of the main volume, attempting to re-establish a certain relationship with the surrounding buildings.

The building thus becomes part of the city’s design thanks to these masonry edges that orient and connect the paths leading in and out of the sports centre.

The sunlight, falling along the fronts of the changing room building in Castiglione delle Stiviere, accompanies the dark tones used for painting and finishes, lightening or darkening them depending on the time of day and offering the image of a vibrant and constantly changing building.