Paolo Brescia and Michel Desvigne win Prato Central Park competition

A team led by Paolo Brescia (OBR Paolo Brescia e Tommaso Principi), Michel Desvigne (Michel Desvigne Paysagiste), and Alberto Romeo (Intertecno) has unanimously won the international architecture competition for Prato's new Central Park. The three-hectare site, adjacent to the city walls where the old hospital once stood, will be transformed into a public park. The jury, chaired by Bernard Tschumi and including Massimo Nutini, Michelle Provoost, Sébastien Marot, and Roberto Zancan, selected the proposal for its interpretation of Prato's history and medieval walls while looking toward the future. The winning design draws on the Roman grid of cardo and decumanus, integrating hedges along parallel axes. The park will feature contemporary sculptures, a curated plant collection, and a pavilion with restaurants, artist studios, and exhibition spaces. The team receives €40,000 and the commission for final and executive design. A public exhibition of all ten finalist projects runs from October 7 to 28 at Palazzo Pretorio. In November, Belgian architects Rotor Deconstruction will lead a workshop to create a 'memory pavilion' from materials recovered from the former hospital demolition.