Prefabricated timber pavilions aid COVID-19 vaccination effort

Architect Stefano Boeri has designed a series of prefabricated vaccination structures to stand in piazzas across Italy

Spotted: Italian architect Stefano Boeri is helping with the country’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts with a series of prefabricated timber and fabric pavilions, in which vaccination stations will be placed. Working in collaboration with Domenico Arcuri, Italy’s special commissioner for the pandemic, Boeri has been commissioned to set up around 1500 pavilions in piazzas across Italy during the first months of 2021, which will help to distribute 3.4 million Pfizer vaccine doses.

The pavilion has a prefabricated circular base and frame, which will help the architects to assemble the structures quickly. Inside, textile walls separate vaccination spaces, designed to offer transparency but also to mitigate sound. There will also be a central space, as well as areas for healthcare workers, including toilets, changing and storage rooms.

Moreover, the structure will be sustainable, with solar panels on the roof in order to supply electricity to the whole pavilion. The skeleton is encased in a recyclable water-resistant textile envelope, and the structure can also be easily dismantled and reassembled elsewhere for future use. 

The placing of the structures in historical piazzas across the country is both practical and symbolic. The architects hope that the positioning of the vaccination centres will help to normalise the process, and also instil hope and optimism. According to Boeri, “Italy’s public life is in our piazzas. We need to make sure that these pavilions will be reachable, comfortable and places that the community consider, for a period of time, part of their lives in order to defeat Covid-19.” 

Part of this message lies in Boeri’s pink primrose symbol, which will be placed on the exterior walls and roof of the structures, and is intended to represent the re-blossoming of Italy’s piazzas. This symbol has also been commissioned to be the logo representing vaccination campaigns across Italy, under the slogan “With a flower, Italy comes back to life”.  

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