Serre of Giardini Margherita - Bologna

Description of the space 

The Serre of Giardini Margherita is a metropolitan HUB devoted to innovation and promotion of entrepreneurial culture. The space is in the hands of the Municipality of Bologna, but since 2014 it has been managed by a network of organisations made up of: Kilowatt Soc. Coop, Kilowatt APS, Fondazione Marino Golinelli and ASTER Società Consortile.  

After a redevelopment process, Kilowatt Soc. Coop implemented a series of services for the local community: a coworking area with electrical outlets and wifi, free drinking water (both still and sparkling), experimental educational service for 0-6 year olds, a vegetarian restaurant, spaces for exhibitions, training, events and cultural aggregation.The space is therefore attractive to many people of different ages, citizens and tourists. 

In 2020 Kilowatt also obtained the management of the Serra Madre complex (two greenhouses of 300 square metres each plus 1,500 square metres of outdoor space). This space will soon undergo regeneration with the primary aim of strengthening and innovating the artistic and cultural offer of the complex. The aim is to create a centre of virtuous dialogue between the worlds of research (scientific and humanistic), business and art on the great challenges of our time: sustainability and climate change. The combination of academic approach and artistic creativity is an essential mix to read these challenges in their complexity, rework them and make them explorable from several point of view.  

Existing urban farming activities 

The Serre of Giardini Margherita has a 400 square meter garden next to which, for two years now, a prototype of an aquaponics system has been located. It consists of:  

• The pond, containing 10 cubic metres of water and housing more than 200 fish, including goldfish and koi;  
• The aquaponic table, the element that characterises the entire system and makes it unique in Italy, consisting of 12 mini-ponds of different sizes connected together thanks to the principle of communicating vessels;  
• The vertical towers, a complex of 21 vertical tubular structures 3 metres high and consisting of 11 slots per tower, for a total of 231 plants grown in less than 4 square metres of land. 

Vision 

The students are asked to propose innovative solutions that can be integrated into the redevelopment project of the Serra Madre complex.The current project for the internal and external regeneration of the space includes: 

1. The planting of vegetable species: for the indoor part, plants capable of filtering, cooling and humidifying the air will be preferred, while for the outdoor part resilient species will be chosen, i.e. capable of adapting to climate change and requiring less water; 
2. An aquaponic cultivation system oriented towards the consolidation of a circular model of production and consumption for the ecosystem of the Serre, as well as for educational and dissemination purposes; 
3. Tanks (seedbeds) for aquaculture; 
4. An above-ground bio-lake for the treatment of rainwater phytodepurated by the plants and connected to the aquaponics cultivation system

These are complemented by spaces specifically dedicated to the public and the local community, including:

1. EVENT SPACE: An experimental area for debates, conferences, workshops, artistic and cultural productions on sustainability issues
2. KW BABY: an extension of the existing educational service based on the outdoor education methodology
3. COWORKING: a space dedicated to work that envisages an expansion of Kilowatt's offices and the creation of new market workstations that will integrate the current coworking offer
4. LAB SPACE: a multifunctional space for training and production, dedicated to the development of transversal skills and workshops
5. CONCEPT STORE: a corner dedicated to sustainability, the environment, food and art, where people could find quality products, seeds of ancient crops and editorial products aimed at disseminating the values underpinning the project, with an adjoining catering area for events.

Interested teams will have to present innovative solutions to integrate in the best way possible these services (in particular event space, kindergarten and co-working area), as well as the production spaces, in order to create a cohesive multifunctional environment intended for a wide audience.

In addition, many obstacles have so far been encountered in effectively communicating the vision of the Serre dei Giardini Margherita project and raising awareness of its support. This has mainly resulted in difficulties in percieving the prices offered by the Bistrot Vetro within the space as correct. In redesigning the area it is therefore of primary importance to take into account the need to raise public awareness of the environmental, economic and social sustainability behind the project and to create a place for the exchange of knowledge and cultures. 

Resources 

In order to complete the regeneration of the Serra Madre an investment of 1.300.000 € + VAT is foreseen (patrimonial valorization + technological equipment). The entire cost is borne by the company Kilowatt Soc. Coop. and will be covered through private investments, debt capital and non-repayable regional contributions. 

Main objectives 

Environmental sustainability, job creation, knowledge sharing and creation of a multicultural space.   

Keywords 

Art, Education, Sustainability, Creativity, Innovation 

Opportunities for the participating teams 

Where interesting proposals emerge and can be combined with what has already been defined in the Serra Madre project, Kilowatt will involve the members of the team in co-design and definition meetings in order to collect further useful ideas before the actual implementation. 

FAQ

1. Is it possible to add new members to the team?

Yes, It will be possible to add new members to the teams until the close of Round 2, which will take place on 5 January 2022. New students should be notified by email to urbanfarm@unibo.it.

2. Is it possible to reverse the order of the sections in the template?

We recommend following the structure of the template provided in order to facilitate the evaluation process of the project by the Scientific Committee and the International Jury.

3. Is there a project duration during which the proposed ideas are supposed to remain in place? How long does it correspond to?

The concession of the space being challenged is for 16 years, so everything proposed had better be done with a logic of investment on this time frame

4. Does the architectural aspect of the project have to include a bathroom to comply with the regulations?

There are more technical aspects that need to be considered with public access in mind. For example, the kindergarten must have a dedicated bathroom

5. Are there any constraints on the Bologna site? There are two greenhouses used as storage behind the other two main greenhouses, can we remove them and use this space in another function?

The greenhouses outside the Serra Madre cannot be removed and on structural changes can be made. The focus of the project must be on the main 660 m2 . However, it will be possible, but not necessary, to provide for cultivation systems inside the greenhouses that do not involve excessive intervention in the space.