The City Council has approved the final project for the urban forestation interventions about the building of the "Covered Market", located in the district of Macrolotto Zero, the historic district of the city characterized by underused spaces.

Prato Urban Jungle: at Macrolotto Zero the "Air Factory" of PNAT, the largest and the first habitable designed so far

The City Council has approved the final project for the urban forestation interventions of the building of the "Covered Market", located in the district of Macrolotto Zero, the historic district of the city characterized by underused spaces. The intervention will be located in a newly renovated building thanks to the ERDF-funded urban regeneration project "PIU Prato" for urban, cultural and social innovation areas and in which the short supply chain market is now experimentally located.

The urban forestry project of the "Covered Market" was conceived by PNAT (Multidisciplinary Design Company co-founded by Stefano Mancuso) and it is divided into several interventions of plant-based solutions. The external surfaces of the former industrial shed will be covered with plants managed with low maintenance technology and the open spaces will be re-naturalized. These interventions will generate benefits in terms of environmental microclimate regulation, temperature mitigation, air quality, thermal and acoustic insulation and rainwater regulation. The conversion of the former industrial hall, in which the market was created, will be a model for the re-use of the abandoned industrial heritage of Prato. Plants will be the technological and vital hub of space, the first practical example of highly innovative biophilic design.

The interior spaces will host a market of local agricultural products and a large "Air Factory", a system designed and developed by PNAT to remove air pollutants completely through the plants. It is the largest air factory designed by PNAT to date, conceived as a real indoor greenhouse that encloses inside a bistrot surrounded by greenery that thanks to the Stomata system is able to purify the air using plants. Between ficus, kentie, monstere and lush strelzie, you can buy vegetables cultivated at km 0, consume local foods and spend time in a real urban Jungle, enjoying the psycho-physical benefits of a full immersion in nature.

"With the approval of the final - administrative project of the market covered the project takes shape and starts to its phase of competition and realization", explains the deputy Mayor for urban planning, environment and circular economy Valerio Barberis, "this is an innovative project that aims to use nature based solutions as an architectural key not only to improve the buildings and energy performance of the latter, but also as an occasion to improve the quality of life of the citizens."

Credits render graphic: ©PNAT