In early 2010s, the city of Formia got a new multilayered parking building, which replaced what had once been an open square — the one where, every summer of our childhood, a luna park would appear during St. Erasmo holidays. The opportunity was an accident of architecture: a 40×40 meter roof made of concrete, blank and pointless. Instead of leaving it as was, the project proposed to reconnect this new surface to the existing Piazza Vittoria through a staircase. The two spaces were meant to stay separate, the design insisted otherwise. What emerged is both gift and repair: a super-smooth concrete surface became a landscape for skaters and BMX riders; a giant chess table; skate ramps; chaise longues; rotating chairs. A playful table in the cityscape where citizens could reclaim what the parking building had buried.The staircase is so logical, so rational in its necessity, that nobody notices it. It simply is.
A simple project developed during the years I was living and working in Rotterdam.
A gift to the city that held the memory of summer luna parks, now transformed into a different kind of playground.

Design: Diana Ciufo
Technical drawings: Municipality of Formia
RUP: arch. Marilena Terreri
Pictures: Andrea De Meo
Year: 2015