Rho Common Ground

A new public Library and office building for the Rho Municipality will reopen to the citizens part of the city’s historic center.

The new intervention commissioned by the municipality of Rho involves the construction of a new City Hall office building and a new public library, together with the redesign of the open spaces. The project area now houses several historic buildings. Some of these, such as the former public library and the old prison, are being retained and redesigned. In contrast, others, such as the old school building and gymnasium, are being demolished as they are obsolete and no longer reusable.

The volumetric composition of the intervention thus considers the relationships established between the new buildings and the pre-existing ones, starting with identifying an articulated system of open spaces. The new layout defines a central open space called the “Corte Multifunzionale”, complemented on its southern side by the old City Hall with its Historic Courtyard and a row of trees.

The void from demolishing the current gymnasium becomes the new “Giardino delle generazioni” open to the city and surrounded by the curtains of the historic buildings facing it. The area is at the center of a system of pedestrian and vehicular flows that enliven downtown Rho and has the potential to connect major routes, offering the city new pedestrian connections. The permeability is not resolved by a single passageway but takes the form of a chain of public spaces of different sizes that culminate in the “Corte Multifunzionale”, the heart of the intervention area. The court, together with Piazza Visconti and Piazza San Vittore, creates a system of related and permeable public spaces of different natures.

The permeability is not resolved by a single passageway but takes the form of a chain of public spaces of different sizes that culminate in the “Corte Multifunzionale”, the heart of the intervention area. The court, together with Piazza Visconti and Piazza San Vittore, creates a system of related and permeable public spaces of different natures.