Designing a new urban narrative for Milan based on time
Our project is about deconstructing daily life in Milan into fragments and reconstructing different experiences of time in a new narrative. Using the site as a foundation, we have created 3 chapters that represent different orders of time: the frozen moment; the time towards death; and the time of growth. We chose different materials to present the story of visualised time for each experiencer.
Local
Italy
Milan
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
As an individual in partnership with other persons
First name: Yijia Last name: Xuan 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: China Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Via Enrico Cialdini 29 Town: Milano Postal code: 20161 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 3478005609 E-mail:xuanyijia2019@outlook.com
First name: Runrun Last name: Pan 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: China Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Via Giuseppe Regaldi, 19 Town: Milano Postal code: 20161 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 348 755 8422 E-mail:runrun.pan@mail.polimi.it
First name: Ziyin Last name: Chen Gender: Female Age: 29 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: China Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Via Giuseppe Regaldi, 19 Town: Milano Postal code: 20161 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 348 297 4404 E-mail:ziyin.chen@mail.polimi.it
First name: Isabella Last name: Cassisa Gender: Female Age: 27 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 f.lil Rosselli 1 Town: Curtatone Postal code: 46010 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 349 383 1944 E-mail:cassisa.isabella@gmail.com
First name: Giacomo Last name: Loggia Gender: Male 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 Padre Davide da Bergamo 1 Town: Piacenza Postal code: 29121 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+393347536384 E-mail:loggiagiacomo007@gmail.com
Our project have taken the spatial narrative as a starting point, creating stories based on different time orders for different sites and using materials to visualise the passage of time. Our site was chosen from Piazza Luca Beltrami, through via Dante, to Piazza Cordusio.
Starting with the narrative. The first chapter is about frozen time. A forgotten isolated island in still time. The second chapter is about time towards death. The fading of an unstable love. The third chapter is about the time of growth. A carnival of chaos.
By analysing the space we end up with 15 spatial prototypes. Based on the story, we chose 3 materials. In Piazza Luca Beltrami, we use a photosensitive material which reacts with UV light to change colour. So that when someone approaches and blocks the light, a shadow will be left on the surface and at the same time the sound system activated, people will create their own notes. Sound and shadow disappear together after 14 seconds, as if a short past has been retained.
In via Dante we have chosen a material that decays with UV light. Like unstable love, the story of what happened here after a year will disappear completely as the unit decomposes. Each unit has a stage-like lighting effect, and when two people enter the space at the same time, the directional speakers will play Vivaldi's music, but as the material decomposes, the music will eventually be lost.
At Cordusio we have wrapped units in plants to expresses a life carnival. Mosses and ferns will grow lush with time. A quiet, natural shelter during the noisy day, at night they light up from inside and the softly playing sounds of nature are a dreamscape for this metropolis. 3 materials and 3 stories are the montage of dreams we have created for Milan.
Time
Narrative
Order
Materials
Participatory
We mainly use some special "materials" in our design to achieve sustainable development. In the three chapters of the design, three materials that continue to evolve and change based on time are separated, and the frames of all installations are made of the same material, which is Aluminum. This frame system is made entirely of Aluminum. With its anodised surface treatment, the frame system will durably resist all weather conditions. The difference is that in the first field a so-called "Varia" panel was used. Varia panels utilising natural or organic materials (ie. leaves, branches or twigs). It has the added benefit of being made from a specially-formulated co-polyester resin that combines performance with environmental responsibility. For design purposes, the Varia panels are coated with photochromic pigments to produce light and shadow changes.Photochromic pigments change from one colour to another and colourless to colour when exposed to sunlight or ultraviolet (UV) light, and reverts to its original colour when sunlight is blocked. Panels of the second material are EF Material (short for ‘Emotional Feeling’) is a paint-free and eco-friendly material that can be mass-produced harmoniously with the surrounding environment without requiring post-processing. At the same time, a photo-oxidiser was applied to the outside of the panel. Photo-oxidation catalysts is a powerful tool in organic chemical synthesis that utilises visible light to power a chemical reaction.Photo-oxidation catalysts can accelerate the erosion of materials over time and with the duration of UV exposure. The same EF Material was applied in the third site, while the planting system was laid so that the plants could develop to a lush stage one to two years after the installation was established.
The aesthetic of this project is "ordinary" in the sense that people can approach without feeling it alien to the space itself or as some sort of brutal installation in the space. Through it, the concept of time is analyzed and divided in three different chapters : the first being the concept of stilness and frozen time, where traces of ourselves still lingers through the shadow that are cast on the surface; the second one is about the decay and the prelude to the end, as anything that has a beginning will always incur an ending; the third one is related to the growth, the expansion and the imprevidibilty of time and nature, as even a shape made by man will only be a starting point for it.
People through these scenarios become aware of their own time, or, in another manner of speaking, they become more connected to the dimension of time that is always a constant in their daily life, that due to the nowadays frenzy for a tomorrow that always comes, they have started to neglect the present. Therefore, installations that have an effect on the people to make them think and evaluate.
From a cultural point of view, these three installations that compose the project are archetypes through which it is possible to better connect to the human's sphere of feelings and perception, creating a common ground for each of one.
The people are welcome to experience it, to try to define by themselves some of the meaning that we attributed and maybe also create some that we didn't even realize. In terms of inclusion and accessability, they are very much free to visit for all the categories of person, from the one that have to rely to a wheelchair to the one with a cane.
One of the most appealing aspect, however, is that they are made for the public, to be witness to their story, may it be of decay or growth. They are not stand-alone entities in the space, but they require a direct and indirect partecipation. It may also be relevant to add that they are thought to integrate with the social scenario in which they are positioned : the one about the decay is located in a urban street, being usable also by other categories, like bar, meeting point and other solutions, while the one related to growth can be located in a crowded area to create an enviroment of distress and of relax for the people that may need a moment to look at some green elements instead of the brick and grey of the road.
Our project is set in the city as an installation space, so that the original architecture is not changed and the integrity of the landscape is maintained as much as possible. The public can easily and naturally interact with our design as they explore the city. At the same time, because our design is extracted from the original spatial form of the site, it is possible to emphasise the original spatial character. We have designed different ways for people to engage with the materials. In Piazza Luca Beltrami we have used photosensitive materials that allow the shadows of people to be briefly retained on the surface of the installation, with special notes. The form of the space is always changing and is altered by the citizens who participate in it, giving people a sense of connection with the city. The biodegradable materials used in Via Dante allow people to experience the passage of time visually, as an observer. Also when two people enter the inside of the installation at the same time, a special musical piece departs, which creates an interaction. In Piazza Cordusio the plant walls are the main focus of our design, they grow with the natural environment, creating a constant cycle of time and space experience.
We created this project with the initial idea of thinking about the identity of Milano as a city. Our team members came up with their own vision of the city from different international, gender and age perspectives, which ultimately led to this design. The most important audience for our project is therefore the citizens, who are not only composed of locals, but also of transient travellers, international students and so on. We deepen and develop our project by analysing their life patterns and activities, so that they are both viewers and participants in the design. The participation of different people allows us to discover different aspects of the city's charm, they interpret the city and our design from their own life experiences and cultural backgrounds, so the richness of the life of our project is made possible by the participation of multiple people.
Our projects integrate a variety of disciplines; sociology, which began to develop in the 20th century, has provided us with a foundation of documentation and research methods to analyse human behaviour in the city, and we have used this knowledge in our new designs to guide people through the language of space to engage in interaction and experience. Narrative, born out of literature, has been introduced into the spatial field by many of the greatest architects, and we follow in the footsteps of our predecessors by adding a narrative dimension to our design, aiming to give Milan a richer urban identity and a greater sense of belonging to the people who live in the city through this intersection of disciplines. In addition to this, our design also involves materialism and music, both of which are used as a vehicle for implementing spatial narratives, and they become our design strategy. Different materials are combined with different sounds to create a rich sensorial experience.
In the field of urban design, many designers use installations to enrich spaces and provide additional functionality. This is a very sustainable and flexible approach to design. Our project adds a rich temporal dimension to this. Generally divided into permanent and temporary projects, our projects are semi-permanent, consisting of permanent structures and changing materials that provide a richer experience. In our projects, people can experience the extraordinary passage of time, frozen moments, gradually dissolving time and cyclical growth. These experiences bring about unconscious reflections on the city and life. Our project is therefore a four-dimensional existence compared to the three-dimensional experiences created in the field of spatial design. Even if someone lives in Milan for a long time and visits our projects at different times of the year or even day, they will have a different experience.
Our project refers to the spatial narrative research of Bernard Tschumi, but develops our own design approach. This approach to design we believe is of a certain universality. When designers wish to create a more distinctive site identity and experience for a site, in addition to adding function, they can also create artificial narratives for it, narratives that give constant life to the site. But this is not a subjective act, the structure of the narrative is derived from the original character of the site and the local people.
With this project we are experimenting with a future, new kind of urban design. In a modern society saturated with information and materials, people can learn about any city in the world via the internet, but efficiency has allowed this information to be organised into a homogeneous, stereotypical form. So even though each city has its own unique charm, people can only get a fragmented view of it through icons and specialities. Through urban narrative design, we want to enable people to have a unique and personal experience. When they leave the city to share the experience again, these experiences will be rich and emotional.
