The project involves the development of a new aquatic sports centre in Iolo, in the Municipality of Prato, within an area already strongly characterised by sports facilities and easily accessible from the city’s main road network. The new building extends and completes the complex alongside the historic Iolo municipal swimming pool, designed in 1976-77 by Marco Meozzi and Paolo Pettini using the Binishell construction system developed by Dante Bini. Its distinctive striped dome is one of the area’s most recognisable architectural landmarks.  The project establishes a dialogue between the strong identity of this existing structure and a new contemporary volume, creating a unified sports destination for the city.

At the heart of the new facility is an indoor Olympic-size swimming pool, compliant with CONI standards and designed to host both everyday sporting activities and national and international competitions and events. The 50-metre, 10-lane pool is conceived to provide maximum flexibility through a movable bulkhead that allows it to be divided into two independent pools. This configuration enables training sessions, courses and different aquatic disciplines to take place simultaneously, including swimming, water polo, artistic swimming, lifesaving and water-based activities for different user groups.

The project also includes the comprehensive redevelopment of the surrounding outdoor areas, with a new internal road system, public parking for approximately 200 cars, dedicated spaces for coaches, motorcycles and bicycles, pedestrian routes and controlled-access areas during events. The landscape design completes the intervention, creating a green buffer and a continuous relationship between the new facility, the Binishell, the existing sports grounds and the surrounding urban context.