Camping, Livorno

Three years ago, in 2005, the Florentine firm of Park Albatros S.A.S. asked Archea to design a new camping ground in the Rimigliano Natural Park, a particularly beautiful area in Val di Cornia on the Etruscan coast, near Livorno.

The park covers an area of 385,000 m², hence the need for a fairly large development, but one that was also respectful of its natural environment and wholly reversible. The park encompasses two distinct areas. The first one, along the Tyrrhenian coast, is a reclaimed swamp featuring various species of reed. The other area, further inland, is characterized by an extensive forest of domestic and maritime pine trees typical of this part of Tuscany.

The camping ground is arranged in several clusters of external and internal spaces. There are large areas of green, plots for tents and bungalows, spaces for recreation, sports and socializing, and service areas designed to provide guests with a comfortable stay. The organic, curved shapes (inspired by single-celled marine organisms), colours and materials (mainly laminated wood and bamboo canes), pick up the features of the natural surroundings by letting them define the sinuous shapes of the main volumes.

Though the design has common structure, two large areas can be distinguished. The first area is circular and is shaped by pedestrian and cycling tracks that fluidly connect the clusters of natural areas with spaces for outdoor recreation. The second area, defined by a pine forest, contains 1800 tent sites, bungalows and services. The main social areas are two piazzas, respectively dubbed 'Caribbean' and 'Italian'. The Caribbean piazza is in the water park where shops, restaurants and performance spaces occupy temporary wood and straw structures. The water park will eventually have an artificial hill containing a large, organically-shaped pool flanked by smaller pools fed by the area's hot springs. The Italian piazza has a retail area, a restaurant and a series of small pavilions connected by a timber deck, marking the piazza as a social place.

The architecture is simple yet sophisticated in its attention to detail and colour: the bamboo ceiling is slightly separated from the curving walls to create a lightweight, airy quality, while the curvilinear, Aquapanel walls supporting the bamboo structure feature rust-coloured Cor-Ten details that complement the faded ochre of the bamboo canes. Sunlight pierces the bamboo ceiling, subtly illuminating the interiors.

All the structures will be as easy to disassemble as they were to assemble. No existing trees have been removed to make room for the campground structures, ensuring that the area can return to its original state at any time. To speed up the building process, which took only three months, and to make the project completely reversible, a dry assembly technique was used. A lightweight roof, suspended between the trees, marks the recreation and lounge areas, while the structure containing sand play areas and a water pool seems to have been drafted by nature rather than an architect's pencil.