A new theatre square for the yak community. Designing the public space through performative activation in Varese

ABSTRACT The regeneration of YAK square (De Salvo Square) is part of a two-years program which experiments an innovative way to merge a cultural program with public-space regeneration. Born at the intersection of the work of the cultural association Karakorum, based in north of Italy, and of some researchers from the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies - Politecnico di Milano, it aims to better connect Spazio Yak (a community driven theatre) with its neighbourhood, a fragile peripheral district in Varese where it was settled a few years ago. The project develops an open and incremental methodology to achieve space improvement and community inclusion at the same time. It intends the transformation of urban space as a mean of integration between individual and collective well-being, gained through the use of existing resources and done in order to enhancing the appropriation of open space by engaged citizens. Graduality, test and redefinition and co-creation of shared tools define the methodology of the project. Organized in different phases (sensing, ignition, catalysis, consolidation, release), a rich program of artistic actions was promoted to re-imagine the public space around the theatre, the De Salvo Square in particular, now conceived as a “permeable” and recognizable place.