The chaotic reality of Venice allows people to find their refuge in a natural habitat, a source of regeneration, where they can become aware of their time, respect it, and identify new points of observation: visual glimpses. Focus defines a space for observation and recollection within Vignole Island creating a human-centered design solution and promoting sustainability, mindfulness and community engagement.. A cathartic path filtered through both physical and mental ascent within the space.
Local
Italy
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It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
As an individual in partnership with other persons
First name: Vincenzo Last name: Mari Gender: Male Age: 24 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Italy Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: via due ponti 28 Town: Carpi Postal code: 41012 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 366 348 4415 E-mail:v.mari@stud.iuav.it
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Focus is a project aimed at defining a place for observation and meditation on Vignole island. The chaotic reality of the city of Venice and the constant pressure to which individuals are subject allow you to find your refuge surrounded by nature, source of regeneration, where to become aware of your time, respecting it, and identify new observation points : visual glimpses. A reaction that leads man to a constant search and connection for other places, away from confusion and disorder, to restore his well-being and project his being. A cathartic path filtered by a physical ascent into space and a mental asceticism in the projection of one’s being upwards. The observatory is contaminated by the surrounding landscape without ever compromising the natural state of the site. It becomes itself a great tool where you can focus your eyes while keeping a constant touch with the place, a connection and interconnection to enhance the relationship between man and nature.
Urban regeneration
Place-making
Nature-based solutions
Human well-being
Observation and contemplation
The project arises from the need to escape from the city and the consequent search for a shelter where you can strengthen your senses and reconnect with nature. The project definition is based on sustainable development issues. Sustainability not only encompasses the scope of the project’s impact, as commonly believed, but is spread across different levels of intervention: environmental, social and economics. Environmental sustainability defines the relationship between the project and the context in which it is located. Focus is an observatory that develops vertically without expanding extensively within the territory
This allows you not to intervene invasively on the natural surface but to project upwards, always keeping a strong contact with the surrounding environment. The use of materials of natural origin allows the structure to fit evenly within the territory and establishes a long-term durability of the structure itself. As for social sustainability, the project promotes an active citizenship that takes care of the natural environment in which it lives, preserving its beauty and enhancing its qualities. Focus becomes a tool to strengthen collaboration inside the community; this begins at the moment of the observatory construction following the project instruction manual that is entrusted to the inhabitants of Vignole in order to make the construction work independent. Finally, economic sustainability is based on the choice of materials and the number of elements used in the realization. On each level of the observatory the same system of realization is defined, trying to control the definition elements of the spaces and structural components. In addition, the project has an indefinite duration that allows a long-term vision and maintenance work by citizens.
Focus is a project that integrates the study of forms with the user experience and the surrounding nature. The slender structure pointing upwards allows the observatory to be placed in the context with lightness, favoring a close interpenetration between design and the environment. The sensation is to be immersed in a natural context, as if the structure were merely a way of looking at the surrounding environment from a different perspective.The aesthetic of the project works on a double level: internal and external. The outside is dominated by a filtering wall of wooden slats, a warm and welcoming material that promotes the approach to the structure and best cohabits with the nature in which it is placed. The inside of the observatory relies instead on the study of geometries in relation to lights and visual views.
The user experiences a constantly evolving space, shaped by the blades of light penetrating the structure and reflecting in the inner space. As weather conditions and times of day shift, the visitor’s experience changes and helps to create new suggestions and ideas for reflection that contribute to enrich the path of ascent and escape from the city. The connection filter between inside and outside is represented by the loggia, an open space that becomes a catalyst inviting the community to gather, acting as an open square, a place for exchange and interaction among citizens.
The project relates to the theme of inclusion from different points of view.
Firstly it is based on affordability since the observatory entrance is free, a civic meeting point for the community. The project provides for the inclusion of citizens from the preliminary design phase to the process of construction and the use of space.
The community interacts with the designers in order to define the project goals, actively takes part in the construction of the observatory in a process of collaboration with its citizens and is responsible for the management and preservation of the place once created.
The project therefore aims to spread a new social model based on participation and cooperation that sees people working together with different knowhow and skills.
Finally the observatory has an inclusive approach towards nature that becomes a co-protagonist: the ecosystem of Vignole is respected and enhanced, it permeates the space becoming an integral part of the project.
The project Focus was born for the community of Vignole, from the citizens' need of a place where to meet, a civic project that promotes the communities’ aggregation, preserving the natural environment that characterizes the island and represents the historical and cultural heritage of those who live there. The citizens are therefore the point of departure and arrival: the project development starts from the specific needs of those who live in the Vignole and is expressed through their active involvement in the observatory construction.
Once built, the project will represent the territory focal point, a place for the community where to find a collective dimension and at the same time establish a link with the surrounding nature through the new observatory viewpoints. The project also helps the achievement of physical and mental well-being thanks to a path of ascent and asceticism linked to the observation and contemplation in a space that amplifies the view and encourages reflection. Focus, therefore, wants to convey the experience of belonging to nature and encourage, through the creation of new points of view, a change of perspective towards the natural environment.
The project for a civic observatory was created for the inhabitants and community of the Vignole island, whose territory becomes a place of ideas for the birth of possible scenarios and a sustainable future for the island itself. The initiatives within the island are promoted by Veras association that for years has been responsible for defining a number of regeneration projects with the aim of enhancing the territory and its identity.
For the definition of the project, the inhabitants of Vignole have expressed the will to preserve the island spaces as places of strong natural concentration and physical decompression as opposed to the compression and chaotic reality of Venice. The goal is to draw a space that can strengthen the idea of a community by focusing on the place and people's needs instead of giving priority to considerations related to tourist attractions. For this reason Focus stands not only for a civic observatory in a natural context but also as an iconic manifesto for the creation of a place of concentration, meditation, observation and respect for time; a space that filters, through its levels, different types of action, contact and observation: a mental and physical ascesis. The civic observatory was primarily created for the community but also extends to those who need a place of escape from reality, looking for new points of view, contact with nature and concentration: strengthening the idea of community but also the concept of the territory promotion.
For the definition of the civic observatory different knowhows come into play to bring to light the concept of ascesis, observation, meditation and contact with nature. Primarily it is fundamental to study the space where the project is placed in order to trace relations of contact and contamination between nature and man. The landscape study is decisive since the observatory focuses on precise visual views that frame points of interest in the surrounding scenery. Once the place of the project is defined, the observatory is designed according to a study consisting of an initial phase, analysis of the territory, and a subsequent concept proposal defining a response to the considerations arisen during the first phase
The project team, in this case made of designers, deals with the study of structural components, the definition of internal and external spaces and the architectural translation of the mental ascesis path in space. To strengthen the concept of relationship and connection between man and nature it is necessary to establish how nature affects man and vice versa:
a type of analysis that highlights socio-relational components and connection degrees that are established when the individual is decontextualized from his reference space and is placed where everything around him is nature.
The civic observatory is an innovative project since it combines the act of observing with a physical and mental ascetic path. The observation of the surrounding nature is designed and guided by the space that allows the user to look only at specific selected glimpses that create a path, a visual experience that turns at the same time into a cathartic experience and escape from the chaotic reality of the city. Observation is filtered through the structure’s different floors which lead to different types of action, ranging from the public function of the ground floor that serves as a loggia to the private dimension of the terrace that allows the observation of the individual. Inside Focus the user is active, stimulated to interact with space and to climb towards the summit, the observation terrace, where the path to the direct relationship with the surrounding nature finds its end. The act of observing therefore blends with meditation and contemplation of the surrounding nature in a project that aims to emphasize the importance of finding one's own space and achieve a balance with the immediate environment, looking at it with new eyes.
The project provides an abacus of elements and assembly instructions that make the observatory reproducible in many different environmental contexts. The basic structure keeps fixed and is easily replicable: the floor structure and the frame of walls , made of the same wooden beams with interlocking systems, make the project easily buildable by the community itself; the specifically designed components, identifiable with the observation points, can be properly managed according to the context: the frame of walls builds a perforated modular system within which one can create windows and viewpoints at will.
Finally, the frame can be buffered with the layer of the external slats, or left exposed in order to encourage a stronger interaction between the structure and the surrounding nature. The system consists of interlocking and screw-on elements suitable for do-it-yourself construction: the project develops a sense of community and allows the recovery and enhancement of other abandoned natural places with potential to expres.
The slender and vertically developed structure can be easily placed in natural contexts without contaminating the environment, integrating instead with what the landscape offers.
Global challenges can be considered as unprecedented growth opportunities to overcome the crisis that has been affecting various factors of intervention: social, political, environmental, economic etc. A sense of responsibility, individual and collective commitment are therefore necessary. The case study of the Vignole points out a few considerations on the environmental crisis, intended to stress some issues linked to the current state of territories, in order to implement strategies operating according to sustainability terms.
In response to this, a number of territory development plans are taking over, with the aim of bringing rural areas, with low housing concentration and marginal tourist interest, back to a new life. Considerations that always work on a sustainable development plan and turn out to be fundamental gears when talking about consequences that affect the global.
The scenario of Vignole island becomes a case study linked to the enhancement and recovery of territorial identity that can encourage the birth of a local society and the strengthening of the local community. Through Focus, connections and contact with nature are re-established by the recovery of a forgotten territory in which enhancing the concept of escape and the search for a shelter in a context far from human pressure. The act of escaping highlights a reality linked to the increasing industrialization of the cities and the resource exploitation both intended to make production processes more efficient. This is why man reacts to the conditions of physical and mental pressure by looking for a place where to recover his well-being and mental balance.
