Multispazio is a polyfunctional cultural space conceived for the Municipality of Cavalese (TN, Italy), fostering dialogue and interaction among different generations. It's a proposal developed during the STEAM Spring School in two days: one of user research, one of design.

The challenge

The senior centre of Cavalese saw a steep decline in participation after the pandemic, and the Municipality decided to revitalize its spaces by creating a community centre, with the goal of favoring intergenerational dialogue while making use of smart technology.

The Municipality decided to involve the Universities of Bozen and Trento, and collaborated with Trento’s FabLab to kickstart the project. This resulted in the STEAM Spring School, an intensive weekend in which around 30 students from both universities and different departments addressed this challenge through on-site research and design.

We scouted the spaces, interviewed citizens, tourists and local politicians, and finally spent a day summarizing findings to propose a design solution.

Our solution

In a dynamic team of around eight people, including architects, computer scientists, educators, graphic designers and more, we envisioned Multispazio.

Multispazio is a flexible, modular space with interactive screens, pivoting around the hall of the senior centre and making use of its surrounding rooms and the outdoor area in front of it. It becomes alive during events and offers a meeting space during every other day, by addressing needs expressed both by youth and seniors.

Key features:

• Modular, movable furniture blocks to accommodate different uses: study room, workshops, small concerts, screenings

• Interactive screens: a blank canvas for drawing, playing multiplayer games, screen movies and sport matches

• Bar service available, keeping the existing one

• Indoor and outdoor spaces: the square outside the hall can host music events and movie screenings during summer

A community space that is essential, modular, and future-proof.

The process

A tour of the space and a design brief explained current challenges and the goal for the weekend:

• The current space is underused

• It should become a community space fostering intergenerational dialogue

• It should include smart technology solutions

A key aspect of this weekend design project was user research. We interviewed:

• Citizens of all ages

• Tourists

• Local politicians

Some interviews were scheduled, while many others were conducted in the streets of Cavalese.

The interview guidelines covered:

• Demographic information

• Usage and attitude towards technology

• Perception of existing community spaces and expectations

We conducted 22 interviews collectively and moved to a thematic analysis of all the data, to get key insights:

• Neutral attitude towards technology, with use mainly for social media and work

• Many activities and spaces for elderly people

• Plenty of young people in Cavalese, unlike the wider region’s demographic trend, since there are multiple schools of different levels and disciplines

Pain points:

• No dedicated spaces for young people to aggregate, beside the parish

• No cultural life for young people

• No active cinema in Cavalese

Based on these insights our group realized two personas: one young adult and a teenager, while other groups covered different demographics.

• Marco, a 30 year old who has to go out of town anytime he wants to go an event

• Jessica, a 16 year old student who’d like a place to hang out with her friends

We then moved to design, to conceive a space that would allow these two personas to achieve their needs and interact, while also being welcoming for all other generations.

In our brainstorming, we were inspired by cultural spaces such as:

BASE Milano, a cultural centre in Milan with a large versatile hall with movable furniture, surrounded by wooden steps, and a stage in the back.

The public library Salaborsa in Bologna with its ergonomic chairs, which make it easier for elderly people to sit down and get up. The chairs are called "Innovation C" and are designed by Fredrik Mattson.

We were also inspired by the good practices expressed in the book “La biblioteca che vorrei” ("The library I’d like") by Antonella Agnoli, such as the imperative presence of free wifi connections and the polyfunctionality of the spaces.

Narrowing down all the ideas that emerged in the brainstorming, we landed on Multispazio, a polyfunctional space that:

• Keeps the bar already present in the senior centre

• Offers screenings of movies and sport matches, multiplayer games thanks to interactive screens

• Has a flexible layout thanks to its modular furniture

• Hosts events both inside and outside: film clubs, workshops, small concerts, and more

Takeaways

• User research can be messy, but it's always valuable. In about one day, we managed to conduct qualitative research and do a structured analysis of the data, developing personas to take informed design decisions. In any project with a lot of moving parts, user research is as tricky as it is important, to get the bigger picture.
  
  

• Working for social good is always inspiring. This project was a beautiful opportunity to work on the design of a space with and for a community.