LAP Architettura Designs TALEA Family Center in Ripa Teatina

The architecture firm LAP (Laboratorio Architettura Partecipata), founded in 2015 by Daniel Caramanico, Federico Sorgi, and Simone Esposito, is constructing the TALEA multifunctional family center in Ripa Teatina, a town of fewer than 4,000 inhabitants in the province of Chieti, Abruzzo. The project is commissioned by the municipality and funded by the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) with €1.7 million. Completion is expected by the end of 2024. The building features a sinuous "hammer roof" with a walkway crossing from end to end, anchoring to the ground at two points. Inside, it will house a play-creative area for children, workshop spaces, services, a nursing area, and a sleeping area. The design aims to restore a lost social and green space for families from Ripa Teatina and neighboring towns, as part of a broader urban redevelopment plan. The name TALEA (meaning "cutting" in Italian) references the local vineyards, symbolizing regeneration. Ripa Teatina previously gained attention at the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale, where the collective Fosbury Architecture included the town in the Italian Pavilion, focusing on an unfinished hospital reactivated by HPO architects and writer Claudia Durastanti.