1,2,3,4,5 Design
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
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Project Description
Today, more than ever, the designer has the role of understanding the needs of those who inhabit the public space and that is why we need new forms of reading to get closer to the real instances of people. 1,2,3,4,5 Design is a toolkit composed of investigation methodologies that guide the designer in the study of the relationship between a public space and its inhabitants in order to strengthen their sense of belonging through a sustainable project.
Geographical Scope
Project Region
Urban or rural issues
Physical or other transformations
EU Programme or fund
Which funds
Description of the project
Summary
The constant growth of urban areas is highlighting the fact that public space influences and will influence the quality of life of more and more people; for this reason it is essential to start rethinking spaces in which increasingly different individuals can feel represented. Because of its collective nature, the public space symbolizes the relationship and dialogue with others, the comparison between different cultures. It is the vehicle through which new values of coexistence can be transmitted.
But how can the designer define and limit the study of such a complex topic? The idea of the toolkit stems from the need to provide an answer to some of these questions and from the belief that understanding the physical and emotional relationship that connects people to a place is essential to be able to strengthen their bond.
Who inhabits the public space? Where do the inhabitants come from? How do they use it? Is it a space capable of welcoming diversity? What is its imageability?
1,2,3,4,5 Design, applied to the case study of Luigi Dallapiccola Square in Florence, draws on the world of architecture, art and urban sociology and through the use and comparison of quantitative and qualitative data, guides the designer to act as a reader of space and the needs of the people who live there.
Specifically, the method of investigation makes use of the studies of Kevin Lynch on the imageability of the city and the social role of the landscape, Vito Acconci and one of his artistic performances, the work of Jan Gehl on the observation of public space, Leonardo Chiesi on the link between the designed space and the inhabited space, and the work of William H. Whyte, one of the pioneers of the study of human behavior in urban environments.
The expected result is a reading and an interpretation of the complex relationship that exists between the inhabitants and a public space in order to strengthen it by designing its regeneration.
Key objectives for sustainability
The proposed project would not bring any strong impact in terms of environmental sustainability. The goal is rather to propose a tool for preventing and limiting waste of resources and materials.
The project designed for the regeneration of Dallapiccola square, articulated in three layers, speaks the language of tactical urbanism, which through self-built, lightweight, dismountable small projects that can be reused in other parts of the city, attempts to activate processes rather than impose projects. As a matter of fact the materials used are tubular steel for the layer of games, wooden tubs to host the vegetation and temporary paint in the flooring.
The vegetation represents to all effects the only real volume of the project intervention: it constitutes the new edges of the square and reinforces the already existing ones. As for the trees, the choice of tree species was made taking into account the temperature and exposure of the square, the spontaneity of the species and especially the low maintenance they need (graminaceous plants and herbaceous perennials).
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
The project proposed in 1,2,3,4,5 Design foresees the game as the main concept, an instrument of urban and social regeneration and consequent strengthening of the sense of belonging, to a place as well as to the neighborhood community.
The system of games, each of which has the name of one of the twelve notes of the chromatic scale, want to be a tribute to Luigi Dallapiccola, composer of the twentieth century of international renown to which the square is named after , one of the first who introduced the method of musical composition of dodecaphony. Some of these objects support the practices of living space already present in the square, others want to create relationships with the city, in particular with the student residence; yet another attempts to reinforce the intentions of the initial design of the square, that is, to create a more intimate square within the square itself. The other games present in the green areas, placed in the respect of the existing traces, want to create new areas of aggregation in the square, moving the margins towards a more central area of the square, although far from the busiest area.
The beauty, in addition to the experience of the game is brought through the introduction of nature in the space where at the moment there is a totally lack of it. There is growing evidence and studies of how much the presence of trees and vegetation in cities, in addition to fighting the phenomenon of global warming, positively affects the psycho-physical health of people, especially those who live in densely populated areas such as Dallapiccola Square. Its use in the square, inevitably conditioned by the presence of the underground parking lot, aims to improve the edges already present and to create new ones, limiting the visual and noise pollution caused by the busy streets that surround it and generating shady areas that many citizens complain about.
Key objectives for inclusion
1,2,3,4,5 Design could not exist without the direct and indirect involvement of its inhabitants. The anagraphic and cultural heterogeneity of the subjects (stakeholders and not, of different ages and cultural backgrounds) involved in the project aims to make this analysis as democratic as possible and celebrate the diversity and beauty of a place through the protagonism, involvement and total participation of the inhabitants.
Inclusion plays its part not only in the methodology but also in the design aspects. The new urban paths of the project, for example, arise from the need to create greater physical accessibility between the square and the surrounding streets and from the unconscious requests of the inhabitants (highlighted by the traces in the study of environmental clues).
The thematic paving, composed of squares with overlapping simple graphics that evoke a playful dimension of the project, are made from washable paints. The color of the thematic flooring is designed to change over time, inspired by the flags of the countries of origin of the inhabitants of the neighborhood.
Physical or other transformations
Innovative character
Sustainability, beauty and inclusion are intertwined in 1,2,3,4,5, Design both in the part of analysis and methodology and in the project. In the analysis part, sustainability from a social point of view and the inclusion of people and inhabitants prevail. Environmental sustainability is better expressed in the project, made of light and temporary interventions, in the use of organic material. Inclusion is the founding part of the design choices. Aesthetics and beauty accompany the entire work, materializing in time, in patience, in listening and observing a community, in the valorization of the differences, in the design choices, in nature, in the new sounds and colors that will inhabit the square, hoping that the power of beauty can contribute to be the engine of regeneration of public spaces.
