Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

The new multipurpose room dedicated to teenagers has already been completed

Milan, January 18 2021 – Work has started on the construction of the Baggio Pavilion, the new building overlooking the civic library which will not only integrate the spaces of the library by hosting new functions within it, but will create, through an open area of ​​approximately 230 mXNUMX, the Piazza dei saperi', a connection space equipped to encourage the socialization and inclusion processes of the entire neighborhood.

The project of the new Pavilion is the result of the participatory planning process, 'The library gives wings', which involved local associations, citizens and Municipality 7, with the aim of redeveloping the neighborhood through a new idea of ​​a library , no longer understood only as a place of study and reading, but also as a center for the dissemination of information and knowledge and as a space dedicated to sociality and integration.

The overall neighborhood regeneration plan, selected by residents and associations operating in the historic neighborhood to the west of the city as part of the 2015/2016 participatory budget, includes:
•the redevelopment of the existing library building with the creation of a new multipurpose room, already built, dedicated to teenagers and equipped with an independent entrance, which can also be used during time slots and on days when the rest of the building is closed. The electrical adaptation of the systems to the new use of the premises is underway;
•the supply of latest generation furnishings and equipment specifically designed for the users of the new multipurpose room;
•the creation of an outdoor reading space, paved and tree-lined, which will soon be equipped with stone furnishings;
•the creation of a pedestrian and paved 'Knowledge Square', which will connect the Library and the Pavilion and which also constitutes a connecting element between the pedestrian paths and the park surrounding the Library;
•the Pavilion which will be built in the area of ​​via Pistoia, previously used as a car park, and oriented parallel to the library.

The technical and construction choices of the Pavilion are inspired by the principles of energy efficiency: in fact, the installation of photovoltaic panels is planned on the part of the roof facing south.

“We are on the home stretch of returning the Baggio Library to the neighborhood in a completely new look – commented the Councilor for Public Works Marco Granelli –. The construction site has just restarted and we are working on the construction of the systems. We will then complete all the structural interventions planned for the presentation of the fire prevention SCIA. The new library will be perfectly integrated into the neighborhood and we hope that in the future, when we can meet again in public spaces and leave the health emergency behind us, it can become a social and cultural meeting point available to citizens".

At the end of the works, expected in July 2021, the management of the Pavilion and the multipurpose room (the latter only during the closing times of the Library) will be entrusted to the person chosen through a public tender procedure who will have presented the best project with social value, educational and aggregative culture aimed at citizens.

For the realization of the 'The library gives wings' project, the Municipality has committed a total of approximately 1 million and 400 thousand euros.

“The project that the Municipality is completing – declared the Councilor for Culture Filippo Del Corno – is the result of a process in which the community of the Baggio district is the protagonist, with which a new idea of ​​a library has been shared , ever closer to the territory, ever more a driving force for synergies between knowledge and development, ever more an instrument of cohesion and solidarity. Participation in the planning will also guarantee active participation in the activities of the new library, which will thus become, in all respects, a true citadel of shared knowledge".

In the meantime, the construction site sections for the construction of the Pavilion have already been assembled. Painted white, they will be the canvases on which the neighborhood kids - starting tomorrow - will represent their idea of ​​a library in its broadest sense (reading, study, culture...). The children will be guided by the educators of the centers they attend: the 'QR52' youth aggregation center managed by GVV (Vincentian volunteer groups), the 'Colibrì' minors' day center managed by Coop. social Tuttinsieme and the Community for UASC 'Sputnik' managed by Coop. social All together. After working in the design laboratories, the children will carry out their works on the specially reserved area along the boundaries of the construction site. Paint cans seized by the local police and stored in a municipal warehouse will be used to paint.

“The works for the construction of the pavilion outside the Baggio library - stated the councilor for Participation, Active Citizenship and Open Data, Lorenzo Lipparini - constitute an important stage in the process carried out with the local associations and citizens who imagined the intervention , they supported him during the participatory budget and today they accompany the construction site with cultural initiatives that prepare the arrival of the new services in the neighborhood. A piece of the many transformations that are taking place inside the library, around it and throughout the area, born from the collaboration between the Administration and citizens".