Italy to build 1,500 pop-up vaccine pavilions, designed by architect Stefano Boeri

Rome: Hundreds of timber vaccination pavilions, adorned with a flower graphic meant to symbolize regeneration, are set to be installed around Italy from January as the country starts immunizing its population with a Covid-19 vaccine.

The designs for the stations were unveiled on Monday by architect Stefano Boeri, who — together with a team of consultants — developed the logo and visual aspects of the country’s vaccine rollout.

A total of 1,500 temporary, circular pavilions will be set up in Italy’s squares and town centers, Boeri’s studio confirmed.

They will feature a wooden interior and a textile shell, bearing a symbol of a primrose on the exterior.

Boeri said in a press release that the architecture has been designed to “convey a symbol of serenity and regeneration.”

“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,” he added.

There will be 1,500 temporary pavilions set up in squares and town centers across Italy.

There will be 1,500 temporary pavilions set up in squares and town centers across Italy. Credit: Stefano Boeri Architetti

Boeri is one of Italy’s most renowned architects, famous for his building Il Bosco Verticale — or the Vertical Forest — the entire facade of which teems with living trees and greenery. He worked on the vaccination project free of charge, his studio said.

More than 65,000 coronavirus deaths have been recorded in Italy, according to figures collected by Johns Hopkins University — surpassing the UK for the highest death toll in Europe.

A small but notable trend of vaccine skepticism in Italy has concerned scientists for several years. In 2018 the country’s government suspended mandatory vaccinations for Italian schoolchildren.