Ingenious ecosystems: third landscapes as models for regeneration in architecture
“Third landscapes” or neglected, semi-natural spaces are everywhere and can pose many problems: pollution, crime, illicit behavior, health and safety risks. Yet these abandoned landscapes can also serve as models for design, exemplifying regenerative and resilient systems to be studied, understood, respected, supported, and duplicated. Taking the example of Piazza d’Armi in Milan, we present a methodology for reappropriation, one that is attentive to the living, breathing nature of these spaces.
Local
Italy
Municipio 7 di Milano
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Piazza d’Armi in western Milan, once a military base, has been abandoned since the 1980s. Since then, nature has reclaimed its rights of this 40 hectare space and has transformed it into a haven for biodiversity, a natural refuge for plant and wildlife. Coexisting with the untamed vegetation, a mosaic of semi-private gardens has emerged with an unrecognized network of gardeners cultivating and caring for the land. It is also home for some, with several makeshift settlements found throughout the site.
Today, spaces like this one present a threefold problem: they are unprotected from a variety of environmental risk factors and left in a state of decay, they are inaccessible due to physical or circumstantial barriers, and they are underdeveloped or inadapted for proper use and enjoyment.
Interested in Gilles Clement’s concept of “third landscapes,” this project shines a light on the dynamics and sophisticated ecosystems at play within spaces like Piazza d’Armi and aims to replicate these dynamics through a specially conceived design project, in which the design process itself is central. We present a methodology for reappropriation attentive to the everchanging, evolutionary process of nature, conceived to adapt, mutate, and evolve with time; by proposing a theoretical framework and a set of practical guidelines, this project presents a means for identifying and reappropriating third landscapes such as the Piazza d’Armi in order to render them more sustainable, inclusive, and beautiful.
Our methodology consists of four phases which progress from theoretical to practical, from passive to active, from intangible to concrete, imitating an organic process and intended as a temporary device which welcomes fragile forms of transformation. As the project progresses through participation of the inhabitants, we aim to legitimize the informal practices and give definition to the landscape while leaving it open to free interpretations and spontaneous practices.
biodiversity
urban wild-life
third landscape
multispecies habitats
common ground
From the environmental perspective, Piazza d'Armi provides the city with some fundamental “green services” free of charge: the regulation of the microclimate, the maintenance of biodiversity, the reduction of air pollution, the absorption of rainwater, the storage of CO2, and pollination thanks to the presence of bees.
For these reasons, one of the sustainability objectives for the Piazza d’Armi project was wildlife preservation. Indeed, 41 different species are present within the Piazza d’Armi of which 32 are protected. We decided to leave 34 hectares of the land as a wildlife reserve while choosing to develop only the 6 hectares of the natural landscape and informal culture we discovered with minimally invasive architecture designed.
Due to the intended human presence, another consideration and objective was designing a system which allows for a harmonious coexistence of man and nature; this includes certain sanitary provisions and as well as soil project and a water collection system to preserve wildlife and to support gardening activities.
For the protection of biodiversity, a soil project linked to the water system was developed, tracing the path of the old Marcione and Marcionino fountains, which have been buried for some time, bringing them back to Piazza d'Armi, through a system of canals, which reach the area of the informal gardens, where they generate relational spaces, bathrooms, troughs, washhouses, service spaces and in support of land care activities.
Starting from the area of the vegetable gardens, a grid of canals branches off, useful for the irrigation and for the consolidation of the wetlands. This ensures the protection of the amphibian species present, unique in a metropolitan context such as that of Milan.
Our final objective is the consideration for the project lifecycle. We consider our project ongoing, with no fixed “end” point we drafted a management policy, assigned caretakers, and aim to educate on good stewardship practices.
We recognized that the self-perpetuating vitality of this third landscape lies in its unconstrained, informal culture, open to free interpretations; for this reason, our objective when designing the architectural project was to give expression to this informal culture through an abstract architecture of purified lines with a simplified aesthetic language open to many interpretations and spontaneous practices and also providing a harmonious contrast with the wild vegetation.
From an aesthetic and architectural point of view, the interventions reflect on archetypal architectural themes, such as that of the fence, and on the use of partitions as scenic wings, elements that transform public space into a stage for relationships. The public space is conceived as a place to open dialogues or enable quiet mediations away from the noise of the city.
For example, we projected a small labyrinth houses a secret garden, a botanical garden also designed to accommodate educational activities; other interventions include the creation of domestic spaces, spaces of refuge or designed for temporary living. Finally, a second pavilion developed in height and built over a pier extending over the humid area swamps allows residence to admire the landscape and wildlife.
With its intimate forests of broad-leaved trees and humid wetlands, rare wildlife and protected species, Piazza d'Armi is an oasis at the doorstep of Milan and a central hub linking the city to the countryside through several green corridors. However, today the Piazza d’Armi remains inaccessible. Our objective is to render Piazza d’Armi more accessible to the public, to better utilize and care from the space, and to offer a place of respite from the noise of the city. Today spending time in nature is a luxury and our objective is to change that. Inclusion starts with accessibility. Rendering Piazza d’Armi more inclusive means making the space easier to reach. For this project, we wanted to increase accessibility sustainably: via bike paths. We projected a cycle-pedestrian path connecting with via Olivieri, enhancing the access with the Baroque district. Piazza d'Armi could also connect to Parco delle Cave, Parco Agricolo Sud, "Boscoincittà", San Cristoforo. We projected increased circulation between these points through green “corridors”. To make the space more comfortable, and therefore more accessible, we developed spaces for sharing and meeting, but also a water system for both human and agricultural practices, as already mentioned.
Accessibility means inclusion. For Piazza d’Armi, we imagined the organization of an events program involving inhabitants of western Milan such as Cascine Ri-Aperte, guided walks, photo exhibits, street food events, and sports tournaments. For theses interventions, ephemeral structures were designed, built with recycled pipes, wood, and waste materials, for low-cost, easy building and minimal impact. The goal of these animations is two-fold: to animate the space, rendering it more inclusive, and increasing inhabitants’ contact with nature but also to help inform our iterative design process by acting as devices to reveal places, overcome limits, give voice, discover new possibilities for the space, and promote ecological stewardship.
The project was prefigured as a project of re-signification, a project on open space, which identifies existing relationships and inserts ways to support them: devices capable of interpreting the uses and needs of those who inhabit the space.
Through on-site inspections to observe the environment, we visited the spontaneous settlements, consisting of fences and shacks, and started dialogues with local actors and inhabitants, who opened their doors to their worlds. We then moved on to the morphological study of the settlement, within which abandoned spaces and crossroads were identified as available spaces, new places of meeting, settings for triggering new mechanisms and creating new relationships.
We discovered very ordinary themes for services: bathrooms, showers, washhouses; refuge spaces, alcoves, thalami; meeting and workspaces, tool rooms, forges, laboratory spaces, seating. In particular, the accesses to the area from via San Giusto and via Domokos are redefined, conceived as points for meeting and mediation between the “formal” and the “informal”.
The design experimentation also envisages a process of formalization of the informal, through the definition of a new management policy.
Through the organization of a meeting table, between inhabitants, committees, associations and institutions, a tender for the reassignment of the gardens will be defined, within which criteria will be established to favor already active users, ready to commit themselves to respecting shared rules, in addition to the arrival of a new generational mixité and the provision of special projects for the assignment of vegetable gardens to project promoters, such as educators. Finally, a collaboration agreement is signed for the shared care of the spaces between local actors and institutions.
In addition to seeking testimonies from the most active users of the site (gardeners, beekeepers, visitors), we also spoke with many stakeholders at various levels: Maria Castiglioni and Valeria Bacchelli of the association "Le Giardiniere"; Vincenzo Ferri, herpetologist and scientific coordinator of the Conservation Commission of the Societas Herpetologica Italica, who assisted with the environmental survey; Diego Profili, architect and spokesman for the activist group "Cittadini per Piazza d’Armi"; Bianca Bottero and Alberto Secchi, residents of western Milan and professors; Francesca Cognetti and Andrea Di Franco, residents of western Milan and professors at Politecnico di Milano, who have been working in this area for years, also through "Off Campus San Siro", a project promoted by "Polisocial" with the aim of promoting projects from the collaboration between university, residents and local networks (through the research groups "Mapping San Siro", "WRP - West Road Project", "Envisioning San Siro").
The project was created with the aim of intercepting public debate, in order to understand and bring out the tensions inherent in the territory, to guide future transformations. It proceeds through collection of data, information, voices of local actors, active subjects in the territory; associations, committees, entities, individual citizens, who express planning, wills, desires, fears, opinions, conflicts, different points of view: a complex panorama of public debate.
In approaching the project ethically, it was necessary to have a subtle knowledge of the recipients of the policies, which became a condition for the effectiveness of the policies themselves.
Piazza d'Armi is the place where design experimentation deepens and takes root. From a design point of view, the area is not interpreted as a free field, but as a stratified landscape, a heterogeneous context, rich in elements, tensions, and traces forming a foundation upon which to build, from bottom up.
Architects, anthropologists, city planners, government officials, historians, beekeepers, gardeners, environmental specialists, educators, social workers, and residents of Milan to construct a panoramic image of the site and its network of stakeholders; through a cross-pollination of ideas, we were able to ideate eco-responsible and inclusive scenarios which we used to develop our schematic plans, such as that for the soil project, the water canal system, the wildlife reserve, the cycle-pedestrian path, the open-plan architecture, the draft for a management policy and the program agenda.
Our project is innovative because it is alive. It is a living, breathing project, not fixed, but which imitates an organic process, a natural evolution, intended to grow and adapt over time.
It is conceived as a project over time, where the process itself is central and consideration for the project lifecycle is integral. Our methodology is novel in that we stipulate both theoretical and practical guidelines which inform and build off each other in a dialectical process.
Our process is iterative with each phase contingent on the last and takes place across four fluid phases:
Tempo 0: Recognition and Construction of Imaginary
Tempo I: Participation and Reappropriation
Tempo II: Support and Consolidation
Tempo III: Reactivation and Modification
The first two phases are immaterial in nature. They constitute identification of the space for research, followed by the associated study which includes observation, data collection, anthropological and environmental surveys. The next step implies dialogue and interaction. In this phase, local actors are consulted, a condition analysis is conducted, and scenarios are ideated. A project concept which entails the legitimization of identified informal practices is conceived. Through temporary animations and interventions, informal practices are supported and gaps are identified. The concept is further honed with strategic modifications for a more developed, permanent project which respects the existing customs and practices of the inhabitants and the space.
The methodology, designs for ephemeral structures, and our architectural aesthetic and corresponding plans can be applied to any urban or semi-urban third landscapes such as the Piazza d’Armi. We've already identified and mapped a network of potential third landscapes to be reappropriated in the metropolitan area of Milan.
Our human and eco-centric methodological model can also be integrated into more traditional architectural phases recognized by institutions such as RIBA, rendering any architectural project more empathetic, environmentally conscious, and inclusive.
In addition, we are interested in joining forces with Berlin’s Floating University near Tempelholf as a future project. In 2018, the Raumlabor collective, with the help of students and professors from European universities, built several simple structures on the edge of the Tempelholf district of Berlin, with the aim of defining a new space for experimentation and encounter came to life. This project was the Floating University of Berlin. The structure, consisting of teaching and laboratory spaces, an auditorium, a shared kitchen, and a tower designed as a system for collecting and filtering rainwater, became for six months a place for debate among students, local experts, architects, musicians, and artists. Floating University aimed to investigate relationships between the everyday life through the temporary transformation of the contemporary city into a transdisciplinary laboratory for experimenting with new urban practices and new modes of the everyday. We would like to revisit and further develop this project in the future.
We are also interested in applying our methodology to a totally different climate, particularly the hot and dry climate of Southern regions of Italy, which remain largely underdeveloped and neglected by research. Developing a harmonious relationship between man and nature, particularly in harsh climates, represents a highly pertinent, if not urgent, challenge today.
Our project proposes several responses to ecological challenges that we face today: preservation of wildlife, protection of biodiversity, expansion of green spaces in urban contexts, and educating on practices of good stewardship of our planet. But most of all, our project objective is to propose a management strategy for neglected third landscapes like Piazza d’Armi. Through our theoretical framework and practical guidelines, we aim to make these spaces more eco-responsible, more beautiful, and more inclusive for all inhabitants by designing by way of a lifecycle project adapted to an ongoing harmonious coexistence between human and wildlife.
Our post-human and eco-centric methodological model can also be integrated into the more traditional architectural phases of any architecture project, rendering any architectural project more empathetic, environmentally conscious, and inclusive.
