Absorbing Heterotopia
Basic information
Project Title
Absorbing Heterotopia
Full project title
Absorbing Heterotopia: reactivation process of Edifici Mondo
Category
Prioritising the places and people that need it the most
Project Description
A Monastic Citadel, a Painful Prison, a Forgotten Fence, a Renaturalized Garden.
This is the faith of the Edifici Mondo, an architectural complex placed on the high historical centre of Salerno, as a hinge between the city and the mountain. Yet, decades of abandonment have interrupted their role in the urban fabric, imposing a condition of wildness and enclosure.
Re-absorbing the Heterotopia, its otherness with respect to the city, means to give value to the strategical role they could hold.
This is the faith of the Edifici Mondo, an architectural complex placed on the high historical centre of Salerno, as a hinge between the city and the mountain. Yet, decades of abandonment have interrupted their role in the urban fabric, imposing a condition of wildness and enclosure.
Re-absorbing the Heterotopia, its otherness with respect to the city, means to give value to the strategical role they could hold.
Geographical Scope
Local
Project Region
Salerno, Italy
Urban or rural issues
It addresses urban-rural linkages
Physical or other transformations
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
EU Programme or fund
No
Description of the project
Summary
This project proposes an adaptive reuse of the abandoned complex of Saint Anthony, which has hosted the function of convent and later of prison of the city of Salerno, capturing the salient aspects of the city’s landscape and the contemporary instances of society, by working at the scale of the environment and of the buildings.
Working simultaneously on the accessibility and the connections with the urban context, the project is united by a visit path of a series of public spaces, that mediate the permeability between the world buildings and the city.
The re-functionalization of these monumental buildings provides for the hybridization of services and functions: the spread of public and commercial activities is added to the dwelling, which is organized on the model of a multigenerational co-living with different temporalities, respecting the architectural typologies. Finally, the arrangement and fruition of this extensive Wild Garden offers new sequences of public spaces and the possibility of crossing the ramparts to reconnect the two city extremes that have always collided.
The main issues where indeed: the lack of primary accessibility; the state of preservation particularly related to a process of renaturalization, which cannot be ignored; the implementation of Co-living in monumental, introverted and stratified buildings.
This new district is as self-sufficient as possible through the inclusion of public, residential, commercial and cultural functions. Each building houses the residences, where the isolated cell of the prison turns into a unit of shared living.
150 people will be accommodated, breaking the segregation of the most fragile individuals. The target group is the most varied from young couples to single parent families, from elderly couples to single students, and implies the fulfilment of certain necessary services, that are selected and positioned according to their public outreach to the level of accessibility of the building itself.
Working simultaneously on the accessibility and the connections with the urban context, the project is united by a visit path of a series of public spaces, that mediate the permeability between the world buildings and the city.
The re-functionalization of these monumental buildings provides for the hybridization of services and functions: the spread of public and commercial activities is added to the dwelling, which is organized on the model of a multigenerational co-living with different temporalities, respecting the architectural typologies. Finally, the arrangement and fruition of this extensive Wild Garden offers new sequences of public spaces and the possibility of crossing the ramparts to reconnect the two city extremes that have always collided.
The main issues where indeed: the lack of primary accessibility; the state of preservation particularly related to a process of renaturalization, which cannot be ignored; the implementation of Co-living in monumental, introverted and stratified buildings.
This new district is as self-sufficient as possible through the inclusion of public, residential, commercial and cultural functions. Each building houses the residences, where the isolated cell of the prison turns into a unit of shared living.
150 people will be accommodated, breaking the segregation of the most fragile individuals. The target group is the most varied from young couples to single parent families, from elderly couples to single students, and implies the fulfilment of certain necessary services, that are selected and positioned according to their public outreach to the level of accessibility of the building itself.
Key objectives for sustainability
Sustainability becomes a pillar in the design genesis. The decision to work on the built environment, restoring an abandoned space in the heart of the city, means re-establishing new values and relationships that can stimulate social and economic development in a sustainable way for the city. In addition, the decision to leave the natural balance that was spontaneously generated as unaltered as possible, resulting today in an accomplished urban forest, becomes an essential element for reading the complex in the urban/natural continuity, which represent the two spatial fronts of the intervention.
The diffusion of the co-living service, capable of accommodating a heterogeneous group of people of all age groups, contributes positively to the preservation of the social fabric, avoiding the isolation and segregation of those weaker groups, establishing new intergenerational dialogues from which each member benefits.
Finally, the project is distinguished by two different approaches, with particular attention to reversibility and permanence of the added value: the arrangement of the outdoor spaces, and the equipment that allows primary accessibility including vertical mechanical and horizontal slow connections, such as ramps and stairs, becomes a significant component that persists over time and makes the place open to the city. The interior design, on the other hand, is a temporary 'occupation' of spaces, which allows the reading and the interpretation of buildings in the light of contemporary needs, but which does not radically alter the spaces, alternating their formal characteristics, so as to allow for a subsequent reworking that can best adapt to the unpredictable changes affecting today's society.
The diffusion of the co-living service, capable of accommodating a heterogeneous group of people of all age groups, contributes positively to the preservation of the social fabric, avoiding the isolation and segregation of those weaker groups, establishing new intergenerational dialogues from which each member benefits.
Finally, the project is distinguished by two different approaches, with particular attention to reversibility and permanence of the added value: the arrangement of the outdoor spaces, and the equipment that allows primary accessibility including vertical mechanical and horizontal slow connections, such as ramps and stairs, becomes a significant component that persists over time and makes the place open to the city. The interior design, on the other hand, is a temporary 'occupation' of spaces, which allows the reading and the interpretation of buildings in the light of contemporary needs, but which does not radically alter the spaces, alternating their formal characteristics, so as to allow for a subsequent reworking that can best adapt to the unpredictable changes affecting today's society.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
The opening up of this immense enclosure, located in a strategic position but now forgotten by the collective memory, makes it possible to finally give the city a new horizon, which brings the natural element ever closer to the dense and compact urban mesh.
The transversal crossing of this complex, characterised by an elevation difference of about 50 metres, is possible through a gradual rediscovery of those "walled and terraced gardens", which hold the secrets of a cultural tradition of appropriation of the landscape, on which the oldest teachings of the Salerno Medical School are based.
The cultural as well as physical approach to this widespread botanical garden raises the quality of the experience of the user, who will be able to find not only a state of psycho-physical wellbeing in contact with nature, but also a sense of belonging to, or discovering, values and traditions that belong to the cultural matrix.
In addition, people live well in a stratified context, which here becomes a stimulus for citizens, who will be able to enjoy the history and harmony of ancient buildings, which are now reinterpreted and enriched by contemporary design. This creates beautiful, serene places, enriched by different components that dialogue and are complementary and essential to each other.
The transversal crossing of this complex, characterised by an elevation difference of about 50 metres, is possible through a gradual rediscovery of those "walled and terraced gardens", which hold the secrets of a cultural tradition of appropriation of the landscape, on which the oldest teachings of the Salerno Medical School are based.
The cultural as well as physical approach to this widespread botanical garden raises the quality of the experience of the user, who will be able to find not only a state of psycho-physical wellbeing in contact with nature, but also a sense of belonging to, or discovering, values and traditions that belong to the cultural matrix.
In addition, people live well in a stratified context, which here becomes a stimulus for citizens, who will be able to enjoy the history and harmony of ancient buildings, which are now reinterpreted and enriched by contemporary design. This creates beautiful, serene places, enriched by different components that dialogue and are complementary and essential to each other.
Key objectives for inclusion
The openness to the outer city starts along with a principle of connection that results is a large green carpet that moves organically with the slope accompanying the mountain and the accentuated verticality. The current state of the so called “Edifici Mondo” or “World Buildings” as they are know, is somehow accepted, both in the exterior and in the interiors, by working in contrast with grafts that do not alter the original structure.
While the external walls continue to be there.a longitudinal path throughout the terraces is constituted, continuously, and leading to the vertical connections. These towers (3+1) become opportunities to reconnect with the existing road system. The two types are three Stacks and a Rampart.
The former are prototypes characterised by the same load-bearing concrete structure that rises slenderly above street level with simplicity and clarity. Two of them, at the ends, are pedestrianised, while the central tower is a freight elevator serving the public functions present.
The latter, formalizes the connection by rethinking of the typical surveillance elements of the prisons. Thus, the completion of the existing rampart to the south sees as its crowning a circular volume that dilutes the punitive and control aspect by transforming it into a small observation point of the square below.
Finally, from the point of view of the occupation of the buildings themselves, the presence of a variety of activities including a neighbourhood clinic, a nursery, workshop spaces, study rooms, coworking, a gymnasium, and a market, guarantee social inclusion and the presence of relationships that are woven throughout the day. These activities and services relate to the wide range of users of the multigenerational co-living residences, through which strangers manage to combat isolation and difficulties through an innovative and shared living model.
While the external walls continue to be there.a longitudinal path throughout the terraces is constituted, continuously, and leading to the vertical connections. These towers (3+1) become opportunities to reconnect with the existing road system. The two types are three Stacks and a Rampart.
The former are prototypes characterised by the same load-bearing concrete structure that rises slenderly above street level with simplicity and clarity. Two of them, at the ends, are pedestrianised, while the central tower is a freight elevator serving the public functions present.
The latter, formalizes the connection by rethinking of the typical surveillance elements of the prisons. Thus, the completion of the existing rampart to the south sees as its crowning a circular volume that dilutes the punitive and control aspect by transforming it into a small observation point of the square below.
Finally, from the point of view of the occupation of the buildings themselves, the presence of a variety of activities including a neighbourhood clinic, a nursery, workshop spaces, study rooms, coworking, a gymnasium, and a market, guarantee social inclusion and the presence of relationships that are woven throughout the day. These activities and services relate to the wide range of users of the multigenerational co-living residences, through which strangers manage to combat isolation and difficulties through an innovative and shared living model.
How Citizens benefit
The social benefit of such an operation is reflected in the improvement of people's quality of life, which involves not only the occupants in the strict sense of the word of the residences, but the wider citizenry to whom the possibility of enjoying a public, open, sustainable and beautiful space is given.
The high values of dialogue and solidarity, culture and innovation become the keys to enriching the city in its most difficult and controversial parts.
The high values of dialogue and solidarity, culture and innovation become the keys to enriching the city in its most difficult and controversial parts.
Physical or other transformations
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
Innovative character
One of the main innovations concerns the basic choice of accepting the wild in childbirth, in terms of architecture, enclosure, materiality, and above all the environmental condition following abandonment, which has sedimented a true wild garden, without forcing its restoration to a primitive stage that is now unworkable.
Another important aspect concerns the differentiation between the permanent and the temporary aspects of the project, which clarifies the methods of intervention and does not stand as the final stage in the history of these artefacts.
Another important aspect concerns the differentiation between the permanent and the temporary aspects of the project, which clarifies the methods of intervention and does not stand as the final stage in the history of these artefacts.
Disciplines/knowledge reflected
Such an articulated operation involved the integration of many disciplines with each other, in order to guarantee an adequate and complete result: from architecture to botanics, from construction to urban planning, to the social and psychological spheres.
Methodology used
Before embarking on the project, I completed studies and analyses of the urban system, urban changes and evolutions, landscape components and the social fabric involved, as well as analysed feasibility studies and examined the current conditions of the present architecture.
The theoretical research of the Project itself was divided into various aspects: the preservation of Values and the reuse of Irreplicable; the cases of Reconversion of controversial heritage; the cases of Hybridization of uses and Bignesses; the case of Co-living the domestic space; the issues of handling the third landscape.
The theoretical research of the Project itself was divided into various aspects: the preservation of Values and the reuse of Irreplicable; the cases of Reconversion of controversial heritage; the cases of Hybridization of uses and Bignesses; the case of Co-living the domestic space; the issues of handling the third landscape.
How stakeholders are engaged
In the development of the Project, local realities become fundamental. In particular, following a study of the users and the wide-ranging needs of the citizenship, the principles of shared living have been established, complementing a series of endowments and services managed jointly by the public and private sectors.
Global challenges
Social segregation, inclusion, accessibility and design for all, an ageing population, the emptying of historic centres, the reuse of difficult heritage, the preservation of the spontaneous urban forest, social integration.
Learning transferred to other parties
The methodology is in this case a starting point for similar research, where the reuse of manfuacts cannot be separated from an analysis of the state of affairs due to abandonment and the legacy of values, however painful, of a particular architectural complex.
The research becomes interesting and transferable especially with regard to the preservation of the natural component, which is often neglected and ignored on the assumption that restoring a previous state is possible. The project thus demonstrates the possibility of coexisting with the urban forest, whose processes begin spontaneously and precede the anthropic ones.
The research becomes interesting and transferable especially with regard to the preservation of the natural component, which is often neglected and ignored on the assumption that restoring a previous state is possible. The project thus demonstrates the possibility of coexisting with the urban forest, whose processes begin spontaneously and precede the anthropic ones.
Keywords
urban regeneration
urban forest
multigenerational co-living
adaptive reuse
hybrid buildings
