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Impianti Sportivi

Olympic pool Taranto 2026, at Museum MArTA the award ceremony of the winning project

On display until May 18th at the Cloister of the Museum all proposals in the contest

The winners of the international contest for the design of the new Swimming Stadium, an icon of the 2026 Mediterranean Games, were awarded at the Marta Museum in Taranto.
Mayor Rinaldo Melucci has delivered a plaque to the Prato-based studio MDU Architetti (Open Engineering partner, Esa Engineering and geologist Andrea Fiaschi), present in full, beginning with the three founding members, Alessandro Corradini, Cristiano Cosi and Marcello Marchesini. Plaques also for the other four finalists and for the two special mentions.
Concurrently, the opening of the exhibition – is open until May 18, opening hours museum – with the preparation of all the projects in the contest also arrived from the United Kingdom, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, and the distribution of the complete catalogue of the 37 entries.
“We particularly appreciated the sustainability elements that define the winning project – the comment of Mayor Rinaldo Melucci, President of the Organizing Committee – such as to align it with our transition model. The project captures important elements of the path that the city is making, especially because it
recovers and connects the area. In general, deciding to carry out the intervention there was the result of a path of participation sharing perspectives and interests with the Navy to re-functionalize an area destined for other uses and detached from the city. An area of value not trivial from the point of view of
landscape and archaeological, aspects that we will value following the authoritative indications of the Superintendence. Lastly, that place is on the sea and enhancing everything that is linked to this identity matrix is a must of our programming”.

The Swimming Stadium, as pointed out by the Director of Taranto 2026 Elio Sannicandro will constitute “a fundamental legacy for the territory and for the path of growth and enhancement of the city: a plant of national importance not only under the sporting profile but also for the peculiar archaeological-landscape setting”. This last aspect was remarked by the architect Maria Piccarreta, President of the Jury: “The plant will rise in a unique setting, with the Tower of Ayala as if it were a ‘door’ to an area bordered by the coast and the archaeological area. The 37 proposals received were very diverse and the presence of archaeological and environmental resources has stimulated the creativity of the designers favoured by a very precise and structured in identifying conditions and objectives rewarding first of all environmental and economic sustainability”. At the ceremony curated by the Taranto 2026 Organizing Committee, the Regional Director Delegate to the Games Vincenzo Di Gregorio also spoke, recalling the commitment over the years by the Apulia Region for the rebirth of Taranto: “This beautiful plant will rise on a place
abandoned for too long and linked to the history of the city. Now we will go ahead convinced that only by teaming up we will achieve the goals”. There also the Superintendence of the Cultural Heritage and the Museum MArTA, recently entered the organizing Committee with the Navy, the Chamber of Commerce and the Harbour Authority in the optical of widening the territory.