Where we end and we begin, a new collective garden for the future
The project works on the idea of a new memorial, where personal memory, like a seed, becomes an active element, not relegated just to the past but capable of growing and creating future. Reconnection with nature is discovered through the image of the life cycle which does not end in death, but continues in the growth of a new collective garden. Dominated by nature, the space will allow people to take care of something and let it grow while learning and respecting biological rythmes.
Local
Italy
Milan, Arco della Pace Square
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: Lucia Beatrice Last name: Abbiati Gender: Female Age: 23 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 San Martino 14 Town: Sant'Angelo Lodigiano Postal code: 26866 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 346 379 6190 E-mail:luciabeatrice.abbiati@mail.polimi.it
First name: Maddalena Last name: Adriano Gender: Female Age: 23 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 Palestro 34 Town: Roma Postal code: 00185 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 340 081 9283 E-mail:maddalena.adriano@mail.polimi.it
First name: Guia Rita Gloria Last name: Bottini Gender: Female Age: 25 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 Sardegna 55 Town: Milano Postal code: 20164 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 338 254 3406 E-mail:guiarita.bottini@mail.polimi.it
First name: Valenzia Natasha Last name: Vibiana Gender: Female Age: 26 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: Indonesia Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Piazzale Loreto 9 Town: Milano Postal code: 20127 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 351 741 8228 E-mail:valenzianatasha.vibiana@mail.polimi.it
First name: Kittan Ramadira Eimir Last name: Kodijat Gender: Male Age: 26 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: Indonesia Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Via Arcivescovo Romili 20/4 Town: Milano Postal code: 20139 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 351 974 8787 E-mail:kittanramadira.kodijat@mail.polimi.it
The project works on the idea of a new memorial, where personal memory, like a seed, becomes an active element, not relegated just to the past but capable of growing and building our future. Man’s connection with nature is rediscovered through the image of the life cycle which does not end in death, but continues in the collective memory of the experiences lived by the single individual. The project, located in Piazza Sempione, in Milan, aims to give a new meaning the urban-historical context. Arco della Pace, landmark of the area, becomes the place of memory, where time stands still and people can leave their memories through an immersive experience. At the sides of the Arch, two specular buildings, the historical Caselli Daziari, host the libraries of seeds, where citizens can recollect their memories into a new form: the seed. These buildings are dedicated for displaying and explaining information about seeds that users can plant. The entire square is occupied by a collective garden. Dominated by nature, this is a space in which people can experience the action of taking care of plants and let them grow, learning and respecting biological rhythms. Furthermore, vertical collective gardens, placed along the paths, give people the opportunity to bring home plants once they are grown. To reach all the areas, is possible to find gentle circular obstacles. Time loops are rotating platforms present foraltering people flows by blocking or activating passages. The project transforms the square into a new intriguing green area that changes and grows in time thanks to the partecipation of each citizen.
simultaneity
life cycle
memory
nature
collectivity
The project works on the idea of sustainability because it creates a new green area, by transforming a urban context. The square, characterized by massif materials, becomes a refreshing open area completely dominated by vegetation. The libraries of seeds preserve different seeds species and the garden promotes biodiversity with the growth of different trees and flowers exemplares that implement the connection between the city and the landscape.
The project focuses on enhancing the existing area by improving its qualities from an experiential and emotional point of view in order to rediscover a place that is well known and lived through a new look. The strength lies in the scenic and almost unpredictable aspect of nature, which is designed to create different scenarios depending on the day, the season and the passing of the years. The scenarios are characterised by different colours, textures and smells that make the space unique and to be discovered, following the attraction of the natural landscapes themselves.
The composition of the trees and plants is organised in order to deliver different perspectives and points of view from and towards the square. Thanks to the variety of plants, there will be a dynamic atmosphere. The combination of plants provides structure, texture, and flowers, while trees depth, shadow and imponence. It's a different way for people to engage with the surrounding environment. Not only outdoors, but also indoors, a strong aesthetic impact based on the use of natural elements and the constant presence of vegetation is respected.
The citizens of Milan will be the creators of a new place and ritual. A ritual that leads to a wider collectivity than a bond of religion or gender, it is a ritual that affects everyone in the same form without any distinction, as memory understood as a faculty of the mind encompasses all human beings equally. From the physical and spatial point of view, the square is a very huge area built on slopes of different hights: the three historical buildings are characterized by a plinth elevating the elements above the level of the square. For this reason the design includes access ramps all around the square, making it accessible from different directions.
The collective garden is conceived as a project for the city of Milan, realized thanks to the partecipation of every citizen. The garden will grow through time, what people build in the present will change and transform, will die and reborn as a symbol of the city itself, as the memory of the city. Engaging the community and future users in the project development is a way of adding different perspectives towards a more intelligent space. The garden has also an additional value: it’s a place where citizens let go their memories in order to create new collective ones. The garden becomes a space by everyone, but also by each one for the community, it is a matter of sharing the same values, while preserving the individual identities for a joint project: it will be the opportunity to create a new ritual. Memory will not be conceived just as remembering the past but generate new memories for the future.
The project was initially realized for universitary purpouses, responding to the needs of a design course at Politecnico di Milano, without stakeholders.
The development of the project includes different disciplines and knowledge fields such as landscape and interior design working with a multidisciplinary approach.
The project combines different disciplines to create innovative and integrated solutions. The goal of the design is to create solutions that have a positive impact on society and the world, achieving optimal results. The process is also supported by the tools and methods of time-based design. This discipline was born to respond to constant changes and reconfigurations of the contemporary age. Time-based design transform the architecture into an habitat with blurred boundaries between material and immaterial that can accommodate the continuous modifications of time. The concepts of simultaneity, ubiquity had became foundamental because they physically place us in one place, but emotionally elsewhere. The project deals with the topic of simultaneity to redefine the boundaries of space through the simultaneous inhabiting of different time zones. Actions, functions, landscapes and experiences will be overlapped. In this scenario, time cycle is accepted as value, to be considered with responsibility and flexibility. The changes that take place in the space follow a logic based on a rhythmic/schedule designed and conceived for continuous growth dedicated also to future generations.
The innovative aspects of this project are related to a new concept of memorial and community garden.
What we mean by a new concept of memorial: a space dedicated to citizens without social or religious distinction, where the experience of the individual is at the service of the community and a common space. The innovative side of this place consists in abandoning the idea of the static nature of death, creating a new, more dynamic scenario that does not only live in the past, but creates the present and the future. Stories start from the end, to remind us of the beauty of the loss. We will fade, but our memories remain in a new beginning.
The novelty of the community garden incubates mutual memories in the form of a green area continuously growing, dying and reborning, modifying the landscape.
A connection between men and nature, life cycle of a collective of experience. The concept of the collective garden is translated into the symbolic element of the seed, in fact citizens can take home a plant that symbolically represents the shared memory of a citizen and in this way spread the garden itself in the city.
The project is designed to be site specific, as we have aspects related to the history and conformation of the site. Various design solutions and the underlying concept can be replicated/adapted in other contexts. The community garden, with its idea of cooperation in the service of nature, is one of these because it can find its utility in any place where there is a community of people. The time-based approach can no longer be disregarded, so it is necessary to design with long-term thinking in mind, and to follow the dynamics of contemporary life in order to understand its impact over time.
In the project, the paths and loops are designed to raise awareness of the issue of time use, influencing people's everyday lives.
Looking at the global challenges, the project wants to propose possible solutions to improve health and well-being (by reconnecting with nature within an urban context creating a quality environment), to implement the aspect of sustainable city and community (maintaining and reinforcing the power of memory with the collective garden, involving and creating cohesion among citizens), to create a totally green space (improving the biodiversity of plants and preserving seeds), to educate (on the aspect of time, respect for life and biological rhythms, sustainability).
