Pavia is a charming Italian city of around 70.000 inhabitants, located along the banks of the Ticino river and just 30 km away from Milan. During the twentieth century, like many other towns in the north of Italy, it experienced various moments of economic prosperity, enriching its urban fabric with a large number of industrial activities and strategic infrastructural facilities.

The traces of that productive past are in most cases still visible today, and certainly the most intriguing Pavese ruin still stands perched on the riverside at the gates of the historical centre: “The Idroscalo”.

Abandoned and surrounded by dense spontaneous vegetation, today the building presents itself as a real enchanted ruin waiting to be rediscovered. Hangar Ticinum encourages participants to submit creative and innovative design proposals, challenging them to imagine a full recovery of the disused hydroplane base with the ambition of restoring the importance and centrality it once had.