A placemaking concept for Italy's Covid campaign

Italian architect and urban planner Stefano Boeri has developed an architectural and communicative concept for the country’s anti-Covid-19 vaccination campaign, all free of charge.

The Italian Special Commissioner for the Covid-19 emergency asked Boeri to take on the project.

The integrated proposal includes a campaign logo, temporary pavilions to administer the vaccine in Italy’s main squares, and mobile information totems for public spaces.

The campaign includes logos, pavilions and mobile information totems.

“With the image of a springtime flower, we wanted to create an architecture that would convey a symbol of serenity and regeneration,” says Boeri.

“Getting vaccinated will be an act of civic responsibility, love for others and the rediscovery of life.

If this virus has locked us up in hospitals and homes, the vaccine will bring us back into contact with life and the nature that surrounds us.”

Boeri hopes the vaccine campaign will bring public spaces back to life.

The vaccination campaign is associated with a primrose- the first to blossom after winter signalling spring and the reawakening of nature. Therefore it evokes Italian biodiversity, the natural cycle of life, and continuous rebirth.

Pavilion layouts are circular, with a printed flower on their roofs designed to be visible from above. The flower will also be printed on the side walls and information totems.

Around 1,500 of these Covid-19 vaccination stations are to be set up in piazzas around Italy, made from prefabricated timber and fabric and designed to be easily dismantled and reassembled. The fabric encasing the skeleton of the structure is entirely recyclable and water-resistant.

Self-supporting fabric partitions will create interior spaces for both the vaccine administration and the wait-time afterwards, while a ring of solar panels on the roof will make the pavilions energy self-sufficient.

“Getting vaccinated will be an act of civic responsibility, love for others and the rediscovery of life,” says Boeri.

“Italy’s squares will then visually blossom with a flower,” says Boeri, and the process of rebuilding the country from the pandemic can begin.