New Theater of Verbania
Client: Comune di Verbania
Typology: culture
Year: 2008-2016
Place: Via San Bernardino, 49, Verbania, Italy
Design team: Sir Peter Cook, Salvador Perez Arroyo, Vicente Mestre Sancho, Studio Bargone Associati, Bianchini & Lusiardi Associati, Massimo Mariani, Enrico Auletta, Flavia Brenci, Linda di Muzio, Alessandro Sandelewsky
International architectural design competition. First Prize
Status: completed (2016)
The story of the construction of the new Verbania Theatre began in 2008 with a design competition launched by the Municipality and won by the design group “Stones”.
In the competition proposal, the new theatre—located in Piazza Fratelli Bandiera—was conceived as an urban organism, a place open to the life of the city’s inhabitants. The three volumes, with their soft surfaces clad in terracotta, rested on a sort of walkable podium carved with deep steps, terraces, and long ramps that connected the building to the market square, offering a large outdoor space.
The second project, completed in 2016, emerged from the changing needs of the Verbania City Administration, particularly from the necessity to expand the range of services and functions of the new facility. Based on these premises, the design of the new complex was conceived: a multifunctional events center that, instead of remaining in the historic center of Verbania, was relocated to the “Arena area” on the shores of Lake Maggiore.
The four volumes, clad in a titanium skin that evokes the image of stones resting on the beach, open toward the lake basin and the outdoor area, which can accommodate up to 2,000 people. The new center includes a main hall with over 500 seats and another hall for 200 people, in addition to the foyer, service areas, and a bar-restaurant. From a functional standpoint, one of the most important qualities of the new building is its configurability: it is in fact possible to combine the main hall with the foyer, creating a space with a maximum capacity of 900 seats.
