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Iuav : 119

journal published on the occasion of theexhibition organized by the Iuav ResearchUnit “Architecture and Archaeologies ofthe Production Landscapes” concerningthe results of the Call for papers andproposals announced in the 2012. The exhibition and the correlatedinternational conference, have beenorganized within the Department ofCulture del Progetto, under the aegis of MIBAC, UNISCAPE, AIPAI and with the support of AIAPP

organizzazione e cura scientificaorganization and editorshipMargherita Vanore and Tessa Matteini with Stefano Tornieri, Massimo Triches,Alessandro Tricoli and the cooperation in the exhibition of Filippo Vecelli

numero a cura diissue edited byStefano Tornieri, Massimo Triches,Alessandro Tricoli

Università Iuav di VeneziaSanta Croce 191 Tolentini30135 Veneziatel 041 257 1644www.iuav.it

©Iuav 2012

Iuav giornale dell’universitàiscritto al n.1391 del registro stampa tribunale di VeneziaIuav journal of the Universityregistered at n. 1391 with the press register of the Court of Venicea cura del | edited byservizio [email protected] 2038-7814

direttore | editorAmerigo Restucci

stampa | printGrafiche Veneziane, Venezia

ARCHI TEC TURE AND ARCHAEOLOGIESOF THE PRODUC T IONLANDSCAPES

call for papers and proposalsof architectural design 2012

giornale PLA 2012-v9 PLA call 2012 11/10/12 14.36 Pagina 1

Iuav : 119 2

the Emscher Landschafspark, includ-ing the Duisburg Nord Park (Latz andPartners, 1990-2002), or the role oficons assumed by disused railway linesas the Promenade Plantée in Paris (P.Berger, J. Galliano, 1988-1996) and theHigh Line in New York (Diller & Scofidio+ Renfro, 2004-2012), or else, with re-gard to the recovery of quarries, exem-plary cases that starting since the nine-teenth century, such as the Parc desButtes-Chaumont in Paris (1867), byJean-Charles Alphand, to get to thelandscape restoration of the Crazannesquarries along the A837 motorway atSaintes-Rochefort (Bernard Lassus,1995-1998). Alternatively, they may be-come supporting structures to archi-tectural complexes such as the well-known Le Corbusier project in Firminy(1956-1965) or the Braga Stadium bySouto de Moura (2000-2003). As far asthe reuse of production architectureand the regeneration of entire urbanareas is concerned, on the basis of whathappened with the transformation ofthe Bankside Power Station as the siteof the Tate Modern in London (Herzogand De Meuron, 1995-2000), many oth-er relevant cases could be cited as beingequally important and influential.However, given the many referencesthat can be identified in the presentday with regard to works for the trans-formation of industrial sites, transportinfrastructure or mining areas, it is apriority of the research oriented towardsthe project to be able to recognise thespecific cases that highlight the use ofnew tools and effective developmentmethods. In particular, it appears nec-essary to identify the ability to reactivateor create new processes, both for pro-duction and fruition, through measuresdefined by clear strategies, supportedby a project structure that aims to pro-duce architectural and landscape solu-tions that are adequate considering theproblems and needs expressed by theterritory in question, from a social andeconomic context of profound transfor-mation, by the demand for environ-mental sustainability, putting an endto the indiscriminate use of territories.

The Iuav research unit1 chose to usethe term “Architecture and archaeologyof production landscapes" rather than“industrial archaeology", in order toindicate that in this area of interest,more often than not focused on the his-torical and documentary value of a sin-gle product, the attention is particu-larly paid to the strategic asset roleachieved by buildings and infrastruc-ture systems which were once used foragricultural or industrial production,in relation to environmental contextsand landscapes that are being trans-formed.While acknowledging that, unfortu-nately, there is a widespread and of-ten harmful arbitrariness of transfor-mation developments in relation to thevalue of production landscapes, the re-search unit is focusing on the identifi-cation of criteria and project tools ca-pable of verifying the specificity that anarchitectural and landscape projectmay demonstrate in regenerating pro-duction sites with a recognisable cul-tural value.This interest has led over the years to re-search focused on the relationship be-tween certain production archaeologywith common cultural heritage, partof a territory’s identity, able to inner-

vate and qualify it as an active resource,overcoming a logic of preservation im-plemented solely by turning sites intomuseums, which is increasingly difficultto achieve and manage because it isoften unrelated to the social and eco-nomic needs of the places concerned.

In the context of these intentions, thegroup’s research is organised with var-ious activities primarily focused on fourlines of investigation, mainly aimed atthe development of a comparison be-tween theoretical premises, relevant ex-perience and project outcomes devel-oped in academia and in the territory. • A first area of detailed study workson the critical interpretation of com-pleted projects believed to be relevantto the identification of cultural refer-ence points and methodologies em-ployed by project development linesaimed at generating transformationprocesses where the historical, archi-tectural and landscape related valueof the artefacts becomes a new re-source for the regeneration of entiresites, both urban and non-urban.• The second line of investigation ex-tends the critical interpretation of“places awaiting development” and fea-sibility studies, investigating areas ofgreat interest in landscape terms, whichhave been left in a state of disrepairfor decades due to interruptions in pro-duction processes that generated them,and developments that are in progressor that have achieved interesting re-sults, both in terms of architecturalreuse and the transformation and en-hancement of the landscape.• Instead, the third area of researchregards design practices in laboratorybased teaching as part of the Degreecourse and the Architecture Degreethesis. These will include several ex-perimental projects that make use ofwhat emerges from the critical inter-pretations continuously supplement-ed by the specific analyses of the casestudies that are examined.• The fourth line of investigation willbe carried out through a Call for pa-pers and proposals, with a view to es-tablishing an observatory on externalcontributions, both in relation to pro-jects completed in a professional frame-work, and research carried out in uni-versities. In particular, on the one handit will focus on recent architectural pro-jects, which can provide a significantcontribution to the definition of strate-gies for the development of areasshaped by their past industrial or pro-ductive activities. On the other hand itwill make a comparison between stud-ies and recent research, addressing theissues of architectural design and land-scaping in relation to the sustainableregeneration and renewal of post-pro-duction landscapes.

The research activities carried out with-in the unit thus acknowledge the needto establish a direct comparison be-tween the development methods usedin the international circles and the de-velopment of academic research onsimilar issues and places.The construction of an observatorywhich will also operate as a laborato-ry, able to open itself to the outsideworld by building relationships be-tween designers and researchers, offersthe possibility of giving the researchresults a valid impact on local commu-nities and an effective contribution to

interesting developments.This will for comparison between uni-versity research and professional activ-ities also gave rise to the Call for pa-pers and proposals in 2012, aimed atresearch and completed works, or thosecurrently in progress, over the last tenyears (2001-2011). This led to the selec-tion of the 6 projects and 7 research-es presented in an exhibition and in thisjournal.Two different juries2 carried out the se-lection activities of this initiative: thefirst one, for the projects section, wasformed by university professors, in-cluding designers and contemporaryarchitecture historians , while the mem-bers of the “Architecture and archae-ologies of Production landscapes” unitwere involved in the research projectssection jury , including University pro-fessors, PhD students, young re-searchers and external experts.In general, the proposals submitted tothe Call led to underlining certain ten-sions in the contemporary project re-garding architectural and landscapecharacteristics of the heritage of pro-duction. However, with regard to theproject the difficulty of true integra-tion between the new and existingspace often appears evident. Moreover,the assessment of site, landscape andarchitectural quality rarely allows therecognition of a clear general strategyconsistent with overall and specific de-cisions. Furthermore, in some cases theartefacts are treated as containers,thereby losing their original functionand also emptied of meaning. Above allthey also lose the structural relation-ship with the areas concerned and theirlandscape.It should be noted, on the other hand,how the contemporary project aimed atthe sustainability of transformationmeasures, solidly related to a clear vi-sion for the construction of new vitallandscapes, capable of regenerating ar-chitectures and places of value, pro-ducing a sharing awareness and re-ap-propriation programs for those who livethere or who benefit from develop-ment, while respecting their identity,avoiding questionable activities basedon arbitrariness and purely “decorative”decisions.Although the regeneration of produc-tion sites may not result only in preser-vation activities, it must be able to wise-ly integrate preservation in the devel-opment of new life cycles, through care-fully designed projects that do not resultin quality levels based on single valencetechnological solutions, or in the choiceof old-fashioned interpretations, tech-niques and quality of the areas.In most cases industrial architecturalspace recovered from disuse means de-signers have large volumes to work withinside other architecture seeking to pre-serve their autonomy and recognitionby detaching themselves from the out-er container, creating intermediatespace around them, from which the di-versity of the structures can be seen.Most of the time monumental spacesare transformed by new volumes in emp-ty or exhibition areas, but the two is-sues are cautiously separated and itseems that the intention is to limit de-sign solutions to accommodation, with-out generating a critical opinion on theconflicting demands for preservationand transformation to interpose an in-termediate space that is not always con-trolled in terms of architectural quality.

Iuav : Project, Heritage and Landscapesof ProductionMargherita Vanore

A large number of derelict productionplaces and artefacts, which were inad-equate to accommodate the innova-tion of production processes or newproduct transportation and distribu-tion methods, have for some decadesnow determined the geographical dis-semination throughout the country ofa variety of “rejected sites" as well as“ruins", which can be seen in “archae-ological" terms as being important re-sources for the territory, if included inappropriate redevelopment and regen-eration strategies.This situation mainly regards “rem-nants" of manufacturing complexesdeveloped on the basis of the need tobe supplied with and use raw materi-als and energy. It is still apparent thatthey were subject to rules, architectur-al and building features which were sonecessary that infrastructure systemshas to be developed, often leading tothe development of new geographicalfeatures. Their abandonment, followedby a rapid deterioration of machinesand artefacts, in these cases makes itevident, similar to other types of ar-chaeological remains, how much somebuildings had become part of the land-scape. They constitute an essentialidentity structure, which can still beused as a contemporary resource, worthre-interpreting through integrated andsustainable transformation projects.

It is evident that design focus and in-terest in research directed at produc-tion landscapes can vary, particularly inrelation to the architectural character-istics and the documentary value ofcertain artefacts or entire complexes,by the ability of protection authoritiesto direct transformation while preserv-ing cultural heritage, and last but notleast, through the recognition obtainedat national or international level of theasset value of certain contexts.Despite the gradual dissemination,from the seventies to the present, ofan increasing focus on the preservationand enhancement of industrial assets,and also the identification by UNESCOof a number of production sites thathave been designated as part of worldheritage (currently 37 sites in Europehave been identified, of which only twoare located in Italy), although therehave been few cases of truly virtuous re-generation, there have been numerousvalueless developments, which have of-ten destroyed the characteristics thatgive the landscape its identity.In fact, in many cases, the transforma-tions of artefacts and facilities precludean interpretation of the cultural valueof production heritage, which is oftenalso recognisable by means of complexinfrastructure systems closely related tothe environmental characteristics ofthe areas of development, which arestill able to support the change to theirstructural identity.The specific elements of contemporarydesign that need to be highlighted re-late, first and foremost, to the need torevise the role of a site as part of anintegrated system in the landscape, inwhich the architecture assumes its re-sponsibility not only in terms of preser-vation or philological restoration, butas a generator of new places, whichgain their value by interpreting and

being part of the continuous stratifi-cation of the developments related toproduction processes.The social value of these developmentsmust also necessarily relate to the needfor protecting cultural heritage, whichcan only be achieved through good pro-jects, capable of preserving while trans-forming, of renewing heritage as anactive resource in its role as a space thatis necessary and vital for landscapesand cities.Therefore, this is the starting point forthe need to understand and interpretthe characteristics of areas set up forproduction processes, their stratifica-tion and different archaeologies, in or-der to redefine them as new resources,a part of systems firmly innervated inthe urban fabric, or in topography.Areas with production complexes, fac-tories, quarries, power stations, varioustypes of infrastructure, channels, de-watering, farm buildings etc., even ifthey are inactive, but supported by thesettlement and architectural value ofthe various artefacts or in overall terms,still constitute the foundational struc-tures that have given rise to particularlandscapes and they continue to be el-ements that shape areas, as well as thebearers of memory and identity, whichdoes not allow their elimination or re-placement without causing places tosubstantially lose their meaning andcharacter.

However, the overall types of develop-ments for the reuse and regeneration ofpost-production landscapes generatesmany issues that concern political andstrategic decisions as well as environ-mental or design related ones, in or-der to create viable redevelopment andenhancement of places with new pro-ductive roles.As far as the project is concerned, thedebate within the university and theprofession can be summed up in a ba-sic question: is there really a specifici-ty for architectural and landscape de-sign when regenerating and reusingproduction sites that is not already partof an innate aptitude of the same pro-ject for their interpretation and re-de-velopment?Are careful planning and the activitiesof protection and preservation author-ities enough to make abandoned pro-duction areas vital again?What tools can now be adopted by thelandscape project to integrate the needfor environmental recovery and en-hancement of production assets in newproduction processes?In the present day, what architecturecan overcome the simple preservationor museum transformation of artefactsto extend its value to entire systemsand thereby create new landscapes?

The past few years have seen variousdesign strategies and guidelines for de-velopment which refer to a number ofreferences based on significant well-known cases. However, the strength ofcertain emblematic projects has inmany cases also resulted in improperuse, in a simple figurative manner,thereby generating a partial habitua-tion of the proposed solutions and asort of conformity, often far from thelogic of renewal processes and thespecificity of the developed areas.It is enough to consider how often sig-nificant developments are called intoquestion as reference points, such as


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notes1 The members of the research unit“Architecture and Archaeologies of ProductionLandscapes” are: Gianna Riva, StefanoRocchetto, Margherita Vanore (coordinator),Andrea Ferialdi, Umberto Ferro, TessaMatteini, Cristina Mattiucci, Giulia Mela, LauraMosca, Maurizio Tarlà, Stefano Tornieri,Massimo Triches, Alessandro Tricoli, FilippoVecelli, Francesca Zannovello; as the externalexperts: Franco Mancuso, Claudio Menichelliand Imma Jansana Ferrer2 The jury for the Designs’ section was formedby the Professors: Massimo Carmassi, MauroGalantino, Carlo Magnani, Marco Mulazzani,Margherita Vanore. The jury for the Researchessection was formed by components of the re-search unit: T. Matteini, G. Mela, C. Menichelli,L. Mosca, G. Riva, S. Rocchetto, S. Tornieri, M.Triches, A. Tricoli, M. Vanore, F. Vecelli

In the best cases what instead emergesis the ability to integrate solutions with-in the structure of buildings. As in themost well-known cases, projects thatuse structures as buildings with a cer-tain shape and a possible redefinitionare able to propose re-use in terms ofa significant reinterpretation of the ar-chitectural elements, with works thatadd to the existing architecture, there-by generating new units, and not justa relationship between container andcontent.The preservation and display of ma-chines normally leads to certain deci-sions for a museum-type use that can-not always be compatible with the fullre-use of built-up spaces. In most cas-es, these difficulties are addressed byemptying the buildings and relocatingthe most important machinery, or evenmore frequently the destruction ofwhat is deemed unimportant.In various cases the technological prob-lems appear to prevail, sometimes re-sulting in variations or new develop-ment approaches, sometimes at the riskof incomprehensible deformationwhich is only justified by experimentson the performance of materials. Veryoften, the continuing lack of integra-tion of the various project problems al-so generates a loss of formal balancebetween the various aspects.

The projects selected by the Call high-lighted certain possibilities for definingnew spaces in the city and new land-scape chances of uses by regeneratingthe remains of industrial archaeology orthe shape of production landscapes.The implementation of measures to re-trieve large volumes lead to proposingnew flexible spaces dedicated to edu-cation, workshops or spaces for vari-ous kinds of events. The space that was previously used forindustrial purposes has in some casesbeen reused as a sort of greenhouse,in which to develop other architectureguided by sustainability, research sites,spaces for shorooms, or configured asart galleries or studios. In yet other cases, careful redevelop-ment of the original construction andcomposition characteristics offers thecommunity space to host public ser-vices and trade or exhibition space, cre-ating covered market areas where lo-cal products are promoted. Elsewhere,it is instead the agricultural landscapethat preserves the remains of rural ar-chitecture, used for the production ofwine, that becomes tourist accommo-dation supported by a new wellnesscentre near an outcrop of rock. Finally, a different possibility is a pro-ject for the therapeutic use of salt,where the silent nature of the architec-ture offers the possibility of enjoymentof a landscape designed for a specificproductive process and rather inhos-pitable to house people.

The comparison between the research-es that participated in the call, whichshow a continuity in terms of directionwith the studies from the unit locatedin Venice, has highlighted methodolo-gies and intervention tools able torecognise and develop assets that arenow fundamentally important re-sources for the territory.In many cases the focus is on the im-portance of identity, both urban andterritorial, offered to the project by thevarious systems that characterize the

production landscapes, settlement sys-tems, fences, artefacts and infrastruc-ture. Unproductive agricultural areasinstead become the subject of research,which proposes regeneration startingfrom a reversal in the use of its infra-structure system. Other more distantlandscapes with mining areas are re-defined and designed as new land-scapes that will improve the lives ofthe resident people, in terms of theavailability of open spaces for newleisure sports and art related uses, aswell as contributing to knowledge of lo-cal place’s history and what constitutedits identity.

In these cases, imagining new land-scapes leads to learning a re-appropri-ation process also for those "badplaces" (Weilacher, 2008) which havebeen polluted by industrial activities.The renewal of the large areas of theRuhr is a suitable example whichdemonstrates how far-reaching strate-gic action has been able to generatea substantial reversal of environmen-tal degradation, showing how impor-tant it is to overcome the limitationsof partial and self-referential actionsto be able to deal with production land-scapes through ideas that transformthe negative factors into new develop-ment and enhancement opportunitiesfor the territory.Thus, the research led by the project hasto face the possibility of imagining andshaping new inclusive landscapes thatare able to integrate the most signifi-cant evidence of past production facil-ities, not only as foreign objects ormemorabilia to be exhibited in muse-ums, often deprived of meaning and re-lationships with their surroundings, butas new active resources in an integrat-ed production process that preservesthe heritage of production, making itthe creator of an environmental andcultural renewal of the territory.

From “ruins in reverse” to production landscapesTessa Matteini

The Call for papers and proposals an-nounced by the Iuav Research Unit wasborn to offer a topical survey about thevarious research lines and design ap-proaches adopted to deal with differentkinds of production landscapes, espe-cially focusing on their ecological andsocio-economic regeneration, in orderto activate processes of inventive con-servation1. But the present attitude towards theproduction landscapes is only a latestachievement, commonly shared anddiffusely practiced since the past cen-tury’s last decade. Referring to an in-ternational overview and looking backat the second half of the 1960s, we candetect a fil rouge connecting the dif-ferent design experimentations prac-ticed by artists, architects and land-scape architects, in order to highlightthe progressive development of an in-novative outlook.The aesthetic and cultural revolutionwhich substantially changed the con-solidated approach to post productivelandscapes, has been triggered by thewandering visions and by the experi-mental paths of the contemporaryartists, contributing to build innova-tive tools for reading and interpretingpost-industrial sites and post-miningexploited territories.The topics of the irreversible consump-tion of resources and those of the con-sequent manifold potential identities,emerging through the gradual trans-formations of the sites, has been treat-ed with continuity in Robert Smithson’swritings and artworks, often exploringthe contemporary “entropic land-scapes”. A significant role in this progressivechange of vision has been also playedby the huge photographic repertoiresof Bernd and Hilla Becher, taking mostof the German post-industrial sites withan absolutely neutral outlook and socreating a sort of “comparative anato-my”2 of the industrial remains. An essential shift in attitude towardsthe production landscapes already ap-pears in a Smithson’s essay, “A tour ofthe monuments of Passaic, NewJersey”3, published in 1967. A bus trip inSmithson’s hometown, Passaic, it’s theopportunity for the artist to begin toread usual places with a differentglance: so the bridge over the Passaicriver, the working machines, the indus-trial remnants and a sand-box, a sortof “miniaturized desert”, become se-mantic and figurative icons, with anevocative and poetic potential, com-parable to that of the classical ruins.

Smithsons uses the observation and thephotographic shooting of the Passaic’smonuments for a complete transfor-mation of the consolidates categories,proposing alternative definitions oftime, ruins and landscapes: “That zeropanorama seemed to contain ruins inreverse [...]. This is the opposite of the“romantic ruin”, because the buildingsdon’t fall into ruin after they are built,but rather rise into ruin before they arebuilt.”4

Regarding particularly the project ofproduction landscapes, extremely sig-nificant is the new aesthetic and se-mantic reading of the giant machineryhaunting the industrial sites of Passaic’ssuburbia: “Since it was Saturday, manymachines were not working, and thiscaused them to resemble prehistoriccreatures trapped in the mud, or, bet-ter, extinct machines-mechanical di-nosaurs stripped off their skin”5.This poetic and zoomorphic vision ofthe machines will inform the visions ofthe designers who, since the end of the’80s, worked to the reconfiguration ofthe post mining Ruhr’s landscapes andfor the Industrial Garden in Dessau ar-eas, where all the figurative landmarksare constituted by the former excava-tors and machines, monuments to thememory of the extractive past of thesites.If the birth of Industrial Archaeologyas a science6 contributes to acknowl-edge documentary and ethic values ofthe production landscapes, a concreteapplication of a project’s approach forthe regeneration of brownfields needsfurther reflections and analyses,prompted by innovative experimenta-tions of contemporary artists, but, pri-marily, based on a range of imple-mented cases, to highlight all the dif-ferent critical points detectable inprocesses of conserving, reclaiming andredesigning post industrial sites.A recognized prototype7 for all the fol-lowing reconfigurations is an urbanpark realized in Seattle at the begin-ning of the 1970s on the site of a dis-used gas plant8. The landscape archi-tect Richard Haag, contrasting with theclients and with the local communi-ties, countered the exhausted industri-al plants’ removal, considering themas an integral part of the cultural ar-chaeologies of the site and unavoid-able components for building a newlandscape. In his words: “I began withthe site. I haunted the buildings andlet the spirit of the place enjoin mine.I began seeing what I liked and then Iliked what I saw -new eyes for old-. [...]I accepted these gifts and decided toabsolve the community’s vindictivefeeling towards the gas plant. This van-ishing species of the industrial revolu-tion was saved from extinction throughadaptative use”.9

After the creation of Gas Work park inSeattle, the design of post productivelandscapes became a defined projectcategory, theorized and practiced witha shared attitude which entails the ac-tive conservations of the pre-existentstructures and the respect of their doc-umentary value, the attention for eco-logical dynamics and biodiversity’s in-crease, with the primary purpose to per-ceive and to interpret the ever-chang-ing identities of places.In the last decades important oppor-tunities to explore topics of productionlandscapes’ design and managementhave been created, especially in the

USA10 and in Europe11. Intercepting allthese chances, several recognized land-scape offices12 have worked throughthe years in many different countries,building a set of cultural and discipli-nary tools to face questions and chal-lenges posed by post-mining and post-industrial landscapes. In the meantimean important net of research works fo-cusing on these topics has been car-ried out in different universities andresearch centres13: since the end of thepast century redesigning and reclaim-ing drosscapes14 and wasteland havebeen theorized and practiced more andmore widely.

notes1 See the lemma “Conservation inventive” de-fined by Donadieu in Pascal Aubry, PierreDonadieu, Arnauld Laffage, Jean Pierre LeDantec, Yves Luginbühl, Alain Roger, sous ladirection de Augustin Berque, Mouvance II,soixante-dix mots pour le paysage, Editionsde la Villette, Paris 20062 Michel Makarius, Ruines, Flammarion, Paris2004, pag. 2293 Robert Smithson, “A tour of the Monuments,of Passaic, New Jersey”, in Jack Flam (editedby), Robert Smithson. The Collected Writings,University of California Press, Berkeley, LosAngeles, Londra, 1996, pagg. 68-74. Publishedthe first time on «Artforum», december 1967,with the original title “The monuments ofPassaic”4 ibidem5 ibidem6 Traditionally placed in BirminghamUniversity at the beginning of the 1950s byDonald Dudley and Michael Rix. RiccardoFrancovich, Daniele Manacorda (edited by),Dizionario di Archeologia, Laterza, Roma-Bari,2006, pagg. 172-176, sub voce. For the cultur-al interpretation in Italy in the second half ofthe XX century, see the fundamental collectionof essays: Eugenio Battisti, Archeologia in-dustriale, edited by Francesco Maria Battisti,Milano, Jaca Book, 20017 Peter Reed, Groundswell, constructing thecontemporary landscape. The Museum ofModern Art, New York 2005, pag. 258 The park was realized on the site of SeattleGas Light Company, working since 1906 to19569 Richard Haag, “It was gas”, Outreach, OhioState University, Department of Landscapearchitecture [spring 1982], n. p., quoted inPeter Reed, cit, pag. 2510 Alan Berger, Reclaiming the AmericanWest, Princeton Architectural Press, New York2002.11 Quoting the most well-known initiatives ona large scale, we can mention the two GermanIBAs programmes: the Emscher LandschaftparkIBA (1989-1999) and the Fürst-Pückler-LandIBA (2000-2010), conceived to recover boththe exploited landscapes and the weakenedsocio-economic fabric, respectively in the Ruhrregion and in the Lusatia region. For an in-teresting comparison, see Kerstin Barndt,“Memory traces of an abandoned set of fu-tures”, in Julia Hell, Andreas Schönle (editedby), Ruins of modernity, Duke University Press,Durham and London, 2010, pagg. 270-29312 Among the others: Peter Latz und Partner(Ampertshausen-Duisburg-London), HargreavesAssociates (San Francisco-Cambridge- NewYork, London), Shlomo Aronson Architects(Jerusalem), Martha Schwartz Associates(London-Cambridge Ma-Shangai), JamesCorner/Field operations (New York), BüroKiefer (Berlin), Agence Ilex (Lyon)13 Primarily Udo Weilacher (Chair ofLandscape Architecture and IndustrialLandscape, Technische Universität, München),Alan Berger (Chair of Urban Design andLandscape architecture at the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology), and James Corner(Chair of Landscape Architecture, University ofPennsylvania School of Design)14 Alan Berger coined this term. Alan Berger,Drosscape. Wasting Land in Urban America,Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2006

ex SAVA - Marghera, Venezia_photo by Umberto Ferro


119 4

neys are characterized by the modu-lar sequence of the sawtooth roofs.They overhang façade articulated bythe rhythmic succession of simple orcoupled windows and circulars in thegarrets.The actual situation sees the additionof following bodies of the factory incomparison with the original plant,however realized trying to respect theexisting structures.The inside spaces are articulated bythe bearing slender cast-iron columnsthat, besides dividing the space in reg-ular forms, they represent one of thetypical elements of the buildings of end‘800, as well produced in Schio by an-other nineteenth-century factory, theDe Pretto Industries.The last floors result to be particular-ly bright thanks to the sawtooth roof,that we find made both of wood andconcrete.The redevelopment has concerned thelast floor of the superior building ofthe Factory Saccardo complex for a gen-eral surface of around 2000 square me-ters that have been turned into spacesdestined to different uses: from a sidethey become places of job for profes-sional studies (architects, photogra-phers, artists, ballet dancer), from theother side the environment can becomethe location for private and culturalevents. Here the SchioDesignFestivalnow DesignFactory (www.schiodesign-festival.it) was born.The recovering of the environments iswanted to be in the maximum respectof the existing structure with the ob-jective to valorize the spaces by tryingto adapt them to satisfy all the mod-ern requirements and this also main-taining a flexible environment for thedifferent expected uses. In substancethe space has “suggested” what it in-tended to be and the design has triedto express it.The operation consists in a series ofnon-invasive interventions that leadedto use glass walls allowing the usersreading the whole space, as well as totake back the former chromatic varia-tions as the white of the walls or the an-thracite grey of the cast-iron columns.For the furnishing, not too much so-phisticated finishes are chosen in or-der to be more suitable for the “factory”environment, placing the old ma-chineries by now obsolete in the dif-ferent rooms as a evidence of the nar-row bond with the history. This wholeis to allow the same space fully tellingitself and to be the true protagonist.

Iuav :

Saccardo Factory in SchioCarlo Cappellotto

the placeGiuseppe Saccardo, founder of theSaccardo Factory, originated from afamily with strong entrepreneurial char-acter. The first establishment foundedby him, was situated in the historicalcenter of Schio, along the stream thatfed it. After a fire Giuseppe moved theproduction to a new structure, the ac-tual Fabbrica Saccardo. He chose to lo-cate the new factory at the feet of theTretto’s plateau for the priceless re-source that this territory offered: thewater.The valley of the factory is character-ized by the presence of many channelsand streams, among which the princi-pal one is the Orco stream, that flowsclose to the building becoming sourceof energy. Besides the ground along the Valley ofthe Orco, Giuseppe purchased two hy-draulic workshops, a forging hammerfor iron and a gristmill with the rela-tive rights of water too. He renovatedall the channels and this allowed him toactivate two small hydroelectric powerplants in the Factory, making the in-dustrial complex autonomous for theenergy resourses.The northern part of Vicenza dristrictis characterized by a significant pres-ence of industrial archaeology for manycourses of water cross the whole area.Particularly we can find there threeprincipal waterways: the Leogra, theAgno and the Astico. The Leogra, af-ter having crossed the near city ofSchio, arrives to the city of Vicenza be-coming tributary of the BacchiglioneRiver.The location of the Factory Saccardoon the Tretto also gave the possibility tothe population to integrate the agri-cultural work with that in the factory.The productive decentralization in fact,determined by the incidence of the wa-ter resources and the rural labour on thestructure of the costs and on the abili-ty of the enterprises competition, madethe complemetarity between agricul-tural and industrial work. The FactorySaccardo was a true institution in theterritory, and who worked inside felthimself part of a great family, a sort ofsocial reality as well as productive.

the projectFabbrica Saccardo, thanks to its loca-tion at the feet of the hills, has beenarticulated on more levels and consti-tuted from distinct productive build-ings that can keep the logistic neces-sities of commodities movement un-changed, considering that every levelis reported through car accesses withthe surrounding territory.The buildings with two polling chim-


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Technocenter for the industrialresearch - Requalification of thewarehouse 19, ex “OfficineReggiane”Andrea Oliva, studio cittàarchitettura

the placeAt the end of the 19th-centuryMechanical Workshop are located in anarea North-West of the Reggio EmiliaStation and adjacent with it.In 1904 occurs the transformation of“Righi Workshop”, who settled in 1901in this area because of its easy con-nection with the Station, in “ReggianeMechanical Workshop”: immediatelyfocus on the production of railwayrolling stock.During the First World War they wereconverted for the production of war ma-terial: they produce cannons and conesfor bullets.In the mid-’30s the “Reggiane” are in-cluded into “Caproni group” and gavelife to the huge department “Avio”:from here out several war planes.With wartime conversion, and theconsequent expansion of “ReggianeMechanical Workshop”, workers em-ployed at the factory were five thou-sand, and they became more thaneleven thousand between 1941 and1942. This type of war production, par-ticularly appreciated but also feared,will lead the Allies to decide for thebombing of the Reggiane and Stationarea on the 7th and 8th of January1944. The bombing also touched thebuilding with M morphology (forMussolini), the headquarters and mainentrance to the factory.In this period the “Shed 19”, used as aformer iron foundry, assumes the cur-rent conformation.In 1945, following the peace conditionsimposed by the Allies, the division of“Reggiane aeronautics” ceases to exist.Between 1949 and 1951 the crisis of theplant begins, which will end after ahard class struggle, with the mass lay-off and the end of “glory” history of“Reggiane Mechanical Workshop”.Since the ‘50s, however, the Workshophas continued to produce rail materi-als and large plants, first with the groupState-owned group EFIM and then in“Fantuzzi group”.In 2008 was signed the passage agree-ment of historic “Reggiane” industri-al activities to “Terex” group, U.S.Connecticut giant.Today, in “Reggiane” sector remains thetechnical operational units.

the projectThe “Officine Meccaniche Reggiane” area milestone in the Reggio Emilia indus-trial history: they embody that cultur-al, historical and social process that canaccompany, with a sense of belongingand recognition, any design action to-wards processes of identity redevelop-ment, figurative characters valorizationand urban strongholds reformation.“Officine Meccaniche Reggiane” arephysical example of multiple experi-ences, expectations symbol, place offears and hopes, they are a city withina city: in the functional complexity, inmorphological relativity, in the qualityof open spaces, in the opportunity ofcovered spaces.The area of “Officine Reggiane” is, forthe city of Reggio Emilia, a place ofmemory, place of production process-es recently completed that have been

represented for decades one of thevaluable elements of the city interna-tionally.

The “Shed 19”, a former iron foundryand fettling department, is one of themany archaeological traces throughwhich these processes were imple-mented.The factory, as a production place, be-comes a production factory for cultureand research, retaining some featuresof old structure. The industrial archae-ology is not only a mere recovery of thearchitectural structure, but is a con-tainer that ideologically carries on theold production process linked to“Officine Reggiane”, within the new“productions” of University research.Research and investigation becomesthe tool to identify possible futurechanges, interpreting the “ruin” as aconstruction, as a building that in itsdeterioration reveals its own composi-tion and construction rules.

Noises of industrial working, odors, ma-chinery, processing residues and peopleare fundamental part of places andbuildings of industrial architecture. Themost significant degradation of“Officine Reggiane” is silence. Thedegradation of “Officine Reggiane"could be defined theatrical because isdue to the absence of typical dynamiccomponent (production-worker) thatcan be easily replaced with others dy-namic components (research-students).The memory of “Officine Reggiane” isthe static component, the scene of thattheater made of volumes, perspectives,tracks, machinery and walls worn bytime, effort and work. To change thescene is synonymous of memory and re-ality modification.In this scenery, the building will be pre-served and reused as a large green-house where new wooden volumes (X-Lam) with high energy efficiency arejuxtaposed between solids and voidsin order to reconstruct an urbanpalimpsest of new laboratory and officeduties in service of research andUniversities.

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Restoration of the former Kiln at Ghiare di BercetoFrancesco Fulvi, with Simona Bernardoni, RobertoBruni, Silvia Fecci, Marco Mosconi

the placeThe Former Marchino Furnace is locat-ed in the hamlet of Ghiare Berceto, avillage about 60 kilometers fromParma, well connected by a railway andthe A15 highway in addition to provin-cial and municipal roads. The town ispredominantly residential and there areno public buildings - apart from the rail-way station and the church. TheFurnace belongs to the former CementFactory built in 1911 by the MarchinoSociety of Ghiare of Berceto. ThisSociety chose to erect the factory in thislocation because deposits of limestonewere discovered; one could easily ex-tract good cement marl that was cheap,and, with a location next to the rail-way and seaport transportation thatallowed possible exportation. From thearchitectural point of view, the factorywhich was built of local stone and brick,stood out as an area that is still im-pressive today for its four fireplaces(currently there are only two) and hada feature production of descending“tiers”. The cement marl came from thequarry by rail cars at the top of theplant via a cable car, and, through var-ious phases of work became a finishedproduct at the bottom before beingloaded on trains for distribution. Aftera prosperous period of production therewas a crisis in 1932 and the factory wasclosed. The structure of the factory re-mained unchanged while the produc-tion did change: the production of con-crete to marble and the production ofplastic to polyurethane. For years, theplant Marchino was the driving forceof the failing economy. Its eventual clo-sure ended the economic support nec-essary in the development of the resi-dential fabric, in turn, creating an urbanredevelopment – especially from an ar-chitectural and social perspective.

the projectThe former Marchino Furnace in Ghiareof Berceto is now redeveloped for itshistorical and archeological value. Itis a testimony of the original function ofthe complex while also preserving andrestoring the integrity of the construc-tive and compositional characteristicsof the building. The current project willallow safe access to the furnace; theexisting structural core will be consoli-dated as well as the towers. Slabs, roof,and parapets will be rebuilt, and newsteel stairs will be added. The bases ofthe two towers will also be rebuilt inmemory of the original structure. Thesouthern part will be maintained aspart of the Industrial Archaeology, ev-idence of the original function of thecomplex, while the North part will ac-commodate services for residents andnon-residents. Most likely, in order to,help promote the development of lo-cal goods, such as the porcini mush-rooms, typical of the Val Taro. The ren-ovation and restoration of the formerfurnace is part of a larger urban reno-vation project. It includes other aban-doned buildings and private proper-ties to be restored for different uses.The new functions are intended to con-nect the whole industry to the village ofGhiare, relying more on the proximity ofthe railroad and highway. In this way,

presenting it as a gateway to theApennines - a media center that pro-motes knowledge of the area. The pro-ject on the entire complex will safe-guard its historical memory while tak-ing into account it’s ecological sus-tainability and energy efficiency. Theproject for the former Cementificio pro-poses to convert and re-evaluate allpublic and private volumes: on theNorth side a new parking lot will be pro-vided with steps that follow the slope ofthe ground partially covered with pho-tovoltaic panels (2,900 square meters)and with creeper plants in the higherportion. The East area could host aswimming pool, which could be useful ifthe new school campus is relocated tothe East of the former factory. The de-sign for the mechanical systems will cre-ate a self-sufficient building in termsof energy requirements. The heating willbe provided through the use of solarpanels on the roof of the sheds, whichcombined with a heat pump will helpclose the loop without having to useother energy sources. Two undergroundtanks will collect rainwater and willreuse it both for domestic purposes andthe irrigation of the landscaped areas.All mechanical systems will be locatedin the underground basement, wherea home automation control system willmonitor any type of malfunction.


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Showroom for the CooperativaCeramica of ImolaAlessandro Bucci

the placeCooperativa Ceramica d’Imola is theoldest work and production coopera-tive in Italy and it plays an importantrole in the production of ceramic ma-terials for architecture and design. Thefactory was build in several phases dur-ing the entire life of the company. In’90s the production expansion imposedthe displacement of the activities inother locations. The oldest architecton-ic complex fell into disuse.The factory area is located in a resi-dential urban scheme, close to the citycenter. The strategic urban requalifica-tion is born from the industrial identi-ty of the architecture. The complex en-closes the company history in materi-als and spaces. The currently status ofthe building testifies the productive lifethat determined the success ofCooperativa Ceramica d’Imola. The re-development project creates a new ur-ban polarity starting from the disusedfactory. One of the most important part of theurban design is a parking exchanger be-tween private and public transport.This node will improve the traffic flowsand the accessibility to and through thecity. The requalification program is totransform the area in different phases.Sala Mostre is the first part of the urbanprocess revitalization.

the projectThe architectural project aims to con-nect past and present. A sequence ofpure volumes, designed into the exist-ing building, creates an interesting ex-hibition way, through the entire indus-trial complex, in which all the productsare shown. The concrete rough surfacesof the old walls contrast with thesmooth surfaces of new volumes. Thefirst phase of the project works in twobays of the industrial complex. One isdefined by a large naturalistic spacethat emphasizes the company sensibil-ity regarding to ecological and sus-tainable aspects of the production. Theperimeter walls are covered by verticalgardens and in the centre of the spacethere are two massive elliptic vases con-taining giants old bonsais. The secondbay for exhibition space is character-ized by a glass and steel structure thatbrings the natural light from the roof in-to the space and contains a bamboogarden. Products of CooperativaCeramica d’Imola are exposed on thewalls with a metal frame as pictures.Commercial exhibition is conceived asan artistic atelier.


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Outcrops in the Syracusan rurallandscapeGiovanni Fiamingo

the placeFew historical news are available aboutthe place of project. It was influencedby the ancient Leontinoi, Greek, foun-dation center of the city that today is aninteresting archaeological Park.That area has few architecture building,according with the still persistent agri-cultural vocation: except of the inter-vention complex, put on a dominantposition on a big rocky bank, rich of fos-sil testimony, in Contrada Bertuccia.Not checked fonts say that the build-ing could be of federician origins.The history of the place is still “underconstruction”, because recently the na-ture decides to appropriate again itsown places. In front of intervention place, in thearea called Contrada Gelsari and onceoccupied by unhealthy quagmire, thewater is coming back on surface. Theseancient humid areas, just the swampsof Lentini and Gelsari, drained by thedrain pumps of the ReclaimingConsortium, are coming back in theending part of San Leonardo River.Some researchers affirmed it should bepossible to find a Special ProtectionZone and according with them, theRegional Council for the Preservationof Natural Estate proposed to put theseareas in the protected zone and to pre-serve them with a biennial restrictionwaiting for the creation of a ZPS areaand a nature reserve.

the projectTradition and innovation are the facesof the same medal, couple of comple-mentary opposite, that accompany thearchitect forever. The same significantorigin remind us that “tradition” term,with Latin etymology, comes from theverb trado, is, tradidi, traditum, ere, thatmeans to hand in, to hold out, to putat someone’s disposal, to entrust, butalso to abandon at, to live at the mer-cy of. While the term “innovation”, evenin latin, comes from the verb renovo,as, avi, atum are, that means to renew-al, to do again, to restore, to make feelyounger, to call again memory.

If extant deep desire could coincidewith its “being transforming”, in a cir-cular dialectic where apparent betray-al ends in logic of real continuity of“space” in time, project reasons haveto try to hand in contemporary an es-tate continuously renovated, also in thedeep of its compositive paradigm.What is written above appears more rel-evant in the case of “founded techni-cal shape”, ones expression of produc-tive process, like in the submitted pro-ject: an ancient beam (called “little cas-tle” for its shape) and a little buildingadded, both dedicated at wine produc-tion. In case of this “little castle” re-use,whose Frederick’s origin seems to beunsure and without any bond of theSuperintendence, the owner desire(very careful at building cultural valuebut turned to production of an eco-nomic value to grant the investment)were oriented at a “zero” volume archi-tecture, or quite, excluding the mod-est volume increase to hygienic-sani-tary adjustment. On one end if the val-ue recognition, implying the mainte-nance of real condition, increased the

economic/financial projections, on theother end the composition logics haveto enface a renovated aseismic rule,that makes untouchable the restorationhypothesis (unless extant radical ma-nipulation).

Just like Vitruvio’s ancient lesson, it ap-peared again the eternal dialectic be-tween a static-constructive problem,the functional-production needs andthose ones of a architectural space cor-respondence. Thanks to the use of building systemx-lam (firmitas), the forecast interven-tions investigate three different build-ing strategies:- The completion/compensation (ofeast building part and commonspaces);- the insertion (of autonomous hous-ing capsules, that “emerge” by thewalls, for the rooms dedicated at re-ception);- The demolition and rebuilding (thatregards just the new wellness center).The adopted building system flexibili-ty allows to trigger off different strate-gies of relation between indoor andoutdoor spaces, between extant build-ing, new plan and landscape insertions.


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The small thalassotherapy center in the natural park of the Saltpansof SicciolePIA studio _ Pascal Fusil, StanislavaPustoslemsek, Ursula Koren

the placeThe project for the small thalassother-apy center is characterized by the con-frontation between the pre-existinglandscape, marked by the salt produc-tion process, and the architectonic arte-fact, which is fitted into this context.The intervention establishes an inter-relation with the landscape of the salt-pans, understanding these as a com-plex system, composed by natural andartificial elements. The saltpans are in-terpreted as an important part of the is-trian peninsula; nevertheless their pri-mary function of producing salt is slow-ly disappearing. In the part of thecoastal line, where the saltpans are in-stalled, it is today difficult to trace backto the original form of the landscape.The lasting presence of this specificsoil use has substantially modified avast area of the territory, changing itinto a production landscape. The areaof the saltpans appears to be dividedinto the more ancient “organic” partand a more “geometric” part. In thenewer part of the saltpans, the salt pro-duction is continued in the traditionalmanner, but the traditional houses ofthe salt workers' families are substi-tuted by minor wooden shelters fortools and for small breaks. The “an-cient” part of the saltpans is influencedby the process of renaturalization, giv-ing the way to an important but frag-ile ecosystem. The landscape of thesaltpans is because of its janus-facednature a landscape escaping a cleardefinition. This landscape presents it-self not only with extremely diverse for-mal and physical characteristics, butas a place for the sedimentation ofmemory. It represents in a certain wayan “undiscovered” territory as it is aplace where mass tourism was not ableto develop. In the beginning of theformer century, the industry of salt har-vesting began its lucky marriage withthe local tourism, offering to the guestsof the close by thermal baths inPortorose the primary resources fortheir therapies, based on fango, salt wa-ter and salt. Today we can observe atemptation to the invert the process,bringing the thermal tourism into thesaltpans to assure both quality thera-py and the preservation of the salt-har-vesting culture.

the projectThe architecture of the thalasso cen-ter, introduced as a minimal interven-tion in an ecologically precious envi-ronment, is not trying to control its con-text. The intervention takes place in avery precise spot in the vast 750 halandscape. It is placed there to chal-lenge the natural forces of wind, sunand salt water and to fit into the man-ual processes of living and surviving insuch an environment, resisting an ex-aggerated modernisation. The smallcenter for the open-air thalasso therapyenters into a series of projects whichattempt to enrich the offer of the na-ture park; dealing with the resourcesin a sustainable way and which in thefuture will redefine in first place theborder line of the park. This interven-tion is seen as a pilot project for thethermal activities which should evolve

at the new entry of the park. The in-tervention combines aspects of the in-dustrial landscape to give a free for-mal definition of the single architec-tural objects. It is organized in a wayto leave the surrounding landscape en-ter into the system of correlated objects(thermal stations and baths). The na-ture and the landscape should consti-tute a part of the interventions'essence. In this sense, it is tried to avoida cancellation of the traces of the pre-existing as well as their “museification”.The reinterpretation of local technicsleads to a pure and simple structuralsystem, making it possible to engagethe workers of the saltpans in the con-struction process. This contributed toan integration of this new artefact in-to the social and economic dynamicsof the place. Although the project aimsat the global public, it has a very stronglocal dimension. It contributes to the lo-cal identity - giving a perspective forfurther development. Regarding the ar-chitectural choices, it was decided to in-sert the project in a deteriorated part ofthe saltpans. The proposal was to re-furbish the site with the characteristicrectangular lines of dykes and to im-pose a regular structure, taking its pointof departure at the design of the in-dustrially used saltpans. On this sortof net were located the single objects,all tempting the simplest form theycould possibly have and giving shelterto the different functions of the thermalbaths: entry, changing room, bath-rooms, a cafe, various pools, platformsfor therapy, etc. Favouring heterotopia,fragmentation and the condition of or-ganic grow the architecture which re-sult from this approach has a soft spa-tial presence in contrast to a strongpresence of the environment. The spa-tial figure is developed through the for-mal idea of simple signs, through thetectonics of the architectural object andthrough typology. The tectonics of thenew constructions recalls the tradition-al systems used to build embankments,shelters and canals. The objectivesfrom the beginning of the design pe-riod were kept up to the elaborationof the construction detail. This meantto combine the traditional low-tech ofthe saltpans with imported high-techdesign to guarantee an accurate func-tioning of the complex thermal baths.

therapy place and baths


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Industrial Heritage of MiddleAdriatic. Topics for the ProjectEmilio Corsaro, Silvia Medori

The two researches jointly presentedhere arise from two doctoral disserta-tions supervised by Professor RaffaeleMennella. They both build on a set ofresearch projects promoted at the SADof the University of Camerino. In par-ticular, the two contributions are rootedin the research activities conducted bythe authors under the PRIN Project2006/08 “Public Works and theAdriatic City – Guidelines for the qual-ification of the urban and territorial pro-jects”. Within this PRIN project, the re-search group of Ascoli Piceno focusedon the Adriatic decommissioned sites(including agricultural areas, brown-field sites and tourist poles).

The common point of departure of thetwo contributions is the recognition ofthe opportunities offered by decom-mission, understood as an occasion forstrategic development and for “orient-ing public interventions in the man-agement of complex processes ofcoastal urbanisation”. Focusing onbrownfield sites in the middle Adriaticregions, two complementary themeshave been analysed:– Emilio Corsaro's work provides a ge-ographical mapping of brownfield sitesin the middle Adriatic regions and in-vestigates focal relationships betweenthese sites and broader territorial de-velopment as well as the transforma-tion of the urban landscape. Buildingon this analysis, an innovative method-ology for project design in these areasis developed.– drawing from Corsaro’s contribution,Silvia Medori’s research detects andanalyses the methodologies requiredfor re-interpreting isolated brownfieldsites located within the urban areas.The most appropriate approach for themiddle Adriatic regions is identified andthe underlying rationale elucidated.

Brownfields: from anomalies to rules.characteristics, problems and roles ofbrownfields for adriapolis: newscenarios for the project. [Emilio Corsaro]The present doctoral dissertation in-troduces a less auto-centred approachin the recovery of brownfield sites in themedium-Adriatic area which is rootedin a reading of contextual peculiaritiesand a taxonomic analysis of their mainfeatures. The analytical step is given bythe epistemological assessment of theItalian expression ‘dismissione’ firstly asanomaly and, secondly, as a rule (i.e.measure) for leading transformativeprocesses of the Adriatic City. In thisline, a double taxonomy has been de-veloped: the first one identifies themain features of the Medium-Adriaticterritory and classifies it according tofive categories; the second taxonomyfocuses on the relationships connectingbrownfield sites and the specific terri-tories in which they are embedded. Thereading of the local and contextual da-ta has lead to the identification of newpossible roles, synergies and strategiesfor the territory. In contrast to thoseprojects in which the recovery of brown-field sites has been very often limited toa ‘formalistic exercise’, where architec-ture was simply aiming at reshaping theform of the space, this doctoral disser-tation shows that architecture can be

a “generator of meaning” for a con-text. Brownfield sites can be interpret-ed as the primary fixed capital of thoseterritories in which they are embed-ded: one of the main determinant keysfor defining new lines of development.Within this framework, the mechanismthrough which a urban narrative is con-structed is presented as a powerful toolfor rethinking cities’ histories; at thesame time, the adaptive design processis introduced as a sustainable approachin the recovery of brownfield sites inthe medium-Adriatic region. In order tostress the potentialities of this ap-proach, the adaptive design process isanalysed by decomposing it into itsmain phases of elaboration. In this re-spect, the charrette is presented as aparticular codified case of adaptive de-sign process. The use of this approachfor brownfield sites is discussed draw-ing from an operative experience of theauthor in the Westerholt charette di-rected by landscape architect ProfessorPeter Latz (Technische UniversitätMünchen).

Disused industrial site: whicharchitectural approach?[Silvia Medori]Conservation, Renewal/Re-make, Re-form: redesigning disused industrialspace. The thesis presents the compo-sitional possibilities in the recovery ofabandoned industrial areas by recon-structing a “theory of theories” aroundthis architectural vicissitude and byproposing a “taxonomy” of the mostcommon practices of design on indus-trial heritage.Exploring the architectural productionin recent decades we can clearly iden-tify at least three different approach-es aiming at establishing a relationshipbetween industrial pre-existence andthe new architectural projects. Theseapproaches are linked to the morecanonical architectural themes of the“rehabilitation-restoration of monu-ments”, “design from scratch” and“building on the pre-built”. The firstpart of the research reconstructs thestate of the theory applicable to thesubject by providing a description ofthe most recurrent project designmodes arising from different contexts.In the second part of the contribution,we apply the design strategies to thelarge area of the “Adriatic City”. Here,the analysis clearly shows the exces-sive distance existing between the con-versions made in the Adriatic area andthe approaches suggested by theoret-ical studies. In other words, a tenden-cy to operate too often in an inade-quate way given the effective poten-tial of the territory. At the end of theresearch we can argue that the archi-tectural theme of “re-form”, imple-mented through “creative re-use” pro-jects, is a plausible design strategy use-ful for many industrial sites of theAdriatic coast, a strategy able to pro-vide an alternative solution to bothconservation and total replacement.

RESEARCH INFOUNICAM/ Università di CamerinoInternational School of advanced studiesSchool of Architecture and DesignE.Vittoria, Ascoli PicenoPHD Thesis ICAR 14, XXI and XXIII cycleResearches by Emilio Corsaro, Silvia MedoriTutor: Prof. Raffaele Mennella


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nized in panels and exhibition stands,which includes the area of the lecturehall and an adequate computer stationequipped with audio / video connec-tions. The original structures of thebuilding are not touched by the exhi-bition display. 3rd Step Itinerary: The project con-ceived a new guest house in the ware-house of 1920 water pumping systemunits of Mondine Moglia (Mantua).This stage is called The monumentalHydraulic Engineering for DrainageReclamation and the twenty-centuryArt Nouveau style park. Towards theend of the long itinerary (which will endin the sixth stage at San Siro, impressivemonumental drainage of SanBenedetto Po near Mantua) is sched-uled for Mondine, a new use for theformer depot-warehouse (also of Fascistperiod) to allocate guest accommoda-tions for tourists and cyclists who upto that point following the route of theproject. In this new structure, visitorscan take advantage of restrooms, foodservice Self-coffee and multi-purposeroom to be dedicated to education andeven recreation.

the itinerary and route signalsThe project is a cultural itinerary thattouches specific local contexts from theprovince of Reggio Emilia to that ofMantua. It can be visited and pickedup at any stage and in many ways:minibus/car, bike, pedestrian. It is notonly a bike path and is favored by thesimplicity and readability of signswhich are integrated and purpose-builtfor the route. The signs are already in the act of cre-ation, in conjunction with all the mu-nicipalities of the territories intercept-ed. The signs from time to time presentsnot only the Drainage location but al-so some peculiarities of the places vis-ited. Signals are flanked by maps witha multi network of information andmultimedia applications that can bedownloaded from the website of theItinerary, but also through QR codes vis-ible on the signs of the path, which areable to tell the architecture of thedrainage reclamation, the characteris-tic of the goods, the intangible mem-ories of the area.

TRAVELLING THE WATERLANDSCAPE OF THE DRAINAGE. A naturalistic, cultural, media,social itinerary along Emilia andLombardy regionsChiara Visentin

aims for the knowledge of a Po valley landscapeThe ordinary routine of Po Valley hori-zontal landscape has unique charac-teristics in the Italian panorama, eventhough it is less recognizable than more“attractive” landscapes of the Bel Paese.Drainage intervention is necessary forthe protection of this area and for itsvalorization, thus becoming a “specificvalue”. Signs built by drainage recla-mation influence almost invisibly the ex-tensive landscape that they protected.The canals network draws the territory,defines the boundaries, identify cropsand urban centers, is the testimony ofthe history of the places, before recla-mation wetlands, today one of the mostproductive areas of the country. The project plans the opportunity to getin tune with landscape through a man-ifold circuit which reads natural habi-tats of the land, with its artistic and sub-urban and urban resources, intercept-ing the natural, engineering and archi-tectural heritage of the Consortium(machines and pumping stations,sluices, underpasses culverts, bridges,water basins) became a “working mon-ument”, with undisputed historical, ar-chitectural, landscape and monumen-tal values.

the censusMany are hydraulic buildings, canals,water basins, managed by theConsortium, called Emilia Centrale,working inside what is the essential andancient relationship between lands andwater, in a district-scale hydrographicunits of interregional character. Totalof the artifacts, analyzed between 2009and 2010, were 50 buildings, 17 canals,and 6 water basins, totaling 73 ele-ments. The data sheet has been divid-ed into three main sections: buildings,canals and basins, identifying architec-tural artifacts (draining pumping sta-tions or sluices) or portions of reclaimedland (canals or water basins) throughsome basic parameters such as directanalysis of the object and its state ofconservation, the operating value, basicdimensional data, the environmentalrestrictions.– regarding the buildings, it has beenevaluated the conservation and the op-erative use, the architectural qualityand cultural-historical value, the di-mensional characteristics;– with regard to the water artificialcanalizations, it has been analyzed theextensions, lengths and flow rates, cur-rent use and the presence of significantelements, natural or architectural;– for water basins it has been verifiedthe environmental and touristic effectsof their natural and extensive features,technical and operational values, aswell as identify the main dimensionaldata and waterways of reference.Has been identified an atlas of manyplaces that form when “combined asyou wish”, a fascinating personal geo-graphical knowledge tour, with manydifferent aspects, from natural to his-torical, from hydraulic engineering toarchitecture, from landscape aspectsto agro-food values: a various readingof a scenario as unique as Po Valley.

the projectThe tour is organized through specificsix stages: a journey into the drainagelandscapes which are evaluated in theirspecific fields. A 90-kilometre itinerary has been for-mulated, involving 2 regions and 3 largeprovinces of Emilia Romagna andLombardy. Many of these communitiesof people do not know the identity andthe history, nor the purpose and use ofthe drainage elements, those are es-sentially involuntary co-protagonistsof their daily habits of life. Well, these“drainage and water cathedrals” are ar-chitectural and hydraulic machines thatwork for many decades now, with to-day’s sophisticated control mechanismsneeded to ensure the safety of hy-draulic territory and for this essentialto know and understand. It then be-comes a journey of knowledge to makeperceptible in a map not only “real”, butalso “cultural” a unicum composed ofmany identities. All equally to be valued. The whole project itinerary cannottherefore leave the detailed verificationof what happens in each stage, finallybringing back the particular value,which is clearly given, to the qualita-tive growth as a whole all the way. Thehuge route project carried out tracingthe network of water and drainingnodes which have contributed to thedefinition of this cultural landscape, up-dating roles and functions, disclosingits presence, always seen but never con-sciously perceived, through a consciouscontemporary valorization. Three specific steps reconfigure not on-ly a new reading of the landscape butalso of some hydraulic buildings withinteresting architectural features, as-signing new uses for giving a new val-ue to this massive work and produc-tion spaces.1st Step Itinerary: the Media Museum in-side the Water pumping building inBoretto (Reggio Emilia). The virtual andmedia tour along the landscapes ofDrainage Reclamation. Inside the 1920building, near the Po, magnificent andsolemn example of Fascist architecture,that stands out with its size of almosttwenty meters high on a floodplaintypically horizontal agricultural land-scape, we are facing the realizationof a permanent multimedia exhibitionentitled The Landscape of DrainageReclamation-History, Territory, Security.Inside the building are designed mul-timedia projections and effects that an-imate the 2000 square meters of sur-face, including walls, ceiling and floor,turned into a series of scenarios be-tween the virtual and the real, to tellthe urban, rural and agricultural devel-opment of Emilian drainage reclama-tion. The layout has great features oftheatrical impact for the video and light-ing emotionality that make it be a trueperformance of the most innovative. Theshow is organized around five themesthat tell: water and nature, the drainagereclamation machine, cultivated nature,the work of the man, the city.2nd Step Itinerary: Realization of a lec-ture hall in the former Consortiumguard house (small eclectic building of1927) near the Torrione water pumpingstations and the XIV cent. Bentivoglioculvert at Gualtieri (Reggio Emilia),with a small exhibition entitled Historyand Hydraulics. Networks and canalsin the territory, that tells the story of thehydraulic reclamation. The display is de-signed with a central structure, orga-

RESEARCH INFOConsorzio di Bonifica dell’Emilia Centrale(main research headquarter) and Universitàdegli Studi di Parma, Dipartimento diIngegneria civile, dell’Ambiente, delTerritorio e ArchitetturaResearch coordinator: Chiara VisentinResearch team: phase 1 (2009-2010): Chiara Visentinphase 2 (2010-201): Chiara Visentin,Francesco Bortolini, Antonello Sportillo,Filippo Cavalli, Giulio Viglioli, MargheritaZambelli.phase 3 (2011-2013): Chiara Visentin,Francesco Bortolini, Antonello Sportillo, GiulioViglioli, Rebecca Piazza, Simona Bertoletti


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Spaces and forms of theproduction. Intervention strategiesfor the modification and theconsolidation of industrial textures,fabrics and architecturesGiulia Setti

The contemporary city is subject to con-stant changes, so the places of the pro-ject are now available abandoned ar-eas. This research works on industrialenclosures: the architectural project be-comes an instrument of interventionto consolidate the textures of the city.There is, thus, a need to study the tem-poral duration of urban fabrics andwhat are the tools the architectural pro-ject can use in redefining those places. According to Rassegna, “The aban-doned territories”1, and Casabella,“Architecture for planning”2, arise somesignificant questions about the conceptof 'brownfield'. The interest is focusedon the need to define rules for the con-struction of spaces that are identified asgaps in the urban fabric.The issue concerns the change in thepoint of view on the topic of the in-dustrial areas, which were once emptyspaces and surfaces only made avail-able thanks to the complete demolitionof the previous production facilities andthey are now considered as fragmentsand ruins within the contemporary city.If the urban project, as it was conceivedin the Eighties, had to confront with thetheme of the vacuum and the idea ofturning / building a new part of thecity, now the real challenge is the re-covery of the industrial heritage un-derstood as tiny fabric to work onthrough new intervention strategies.The project does not aim at fully re-covering the building, nor interferingwith a construction from scratch, butat working on a regeneration that al-lows the identification of new archi-tectural languages and interventionmethods. Intended as the key of thethesis, the question is how to considerindustrial fragments and how to dealwith the ruins of the industrial land-scape. What project strategies can beapplied in the processing of industrialfabrics? In the contemporary city it is nolonger possible to talk about brown-field sites but, rather, about the declineof industrial fragments: it is, therefore,the building itself that becomes theobject of the problem.The aim of this work is to build a setof project strategies, determining newlanguages for the production spaces.The urban fabric, indeed, preserves “thefootprint of the brownfields”3, which re-mains impressed in the city structureand binds to the specific context. Industrial plants are presented as out ofscale in the urban fabric and theyshould be involved in the transforma-tion dynamics to become a referencemeasurement at the urban scale. Likea “ruin”, the building gives rise to theneed for new studies on the recycling ofbrownfield, intervening on the consol-idation and the permanence of thebuilt track.If, for a long time, we have witnesseda progressive growth of urban centers,with consequent problems of often un-controllable, urban sprawl, today inmany urban contexts arises the oppo-site problem: the cities decrease andreduce their dimensions. The phenom-enon of shrinking cities, recently stud-ied by Philip Oswalt4, highlights how

the widespread practice of abandon-ment of urbanized centers leads to theemptying of buildings and industrialcomplexes that present themselves as"ruins of the contemporary." The con-cept of decrease must overcome theideological claims (revision of Marxismand capitalism) in order to define in-tervention strategies before what “rep-resents a new form of abandonment.(...) Dynamics of emptying and under-use also concerning the spaces of pro-duction.”5 The phenomena of contrac-tion happened in Detroit, Leipzig,Manchester, the Paris belt and theLombardy area open the premises todetermine new practices of recyclingand reusing artifacts and textiles. Theobjective is to determine potentialplaces of industrial regeneration inEurope and Italy: the study of reusepractices aims both at transforming thephysical space and at punctually actingon industrial archeology. The concepts of recycling, recovery andreuse show an increasing attention tothe issues of environmental and tech-nological sustainability of the project:“architecture is in itself a recyclable ma-terial, which, besides, we have alwaysrecycled," said Pippo Ciorra6, describ-ing as strategic the experimentations of“building on built”, carried out in theseyears.“The issue is now to give meaning andfuture through continuous modifica-tions to the city, the community, theexisting materials, which implies achange in our design methods”7, un-derlines Bernardo Secchi. From his con-siderations is born an interpretive read-ing of case studies aiming at outlininga transcript of guidelines for the inter-vention on industrial products, a con-version oriented to structure new pro-duction areas intended for scientificand research activities.The case of Lombardy (study of OTE -Officine Trasformatori Elettrici) de-scribes a synthesis of intervention strate-gies on buildings through operationsof overwriting, insertion and layeringbetween new and historical memory. The case of OTE becomes the object oftransformational processes aiming atconsolidating the historical record ofthe system and defining new produc-tion space, designed to accommodateinnovative forms of production relat-ed to research and intangible goods. At the same time, the study of the caseof Aubervilliers in the Paris area is be-ing defined, as it has been the subjectof an important industrial disposal. Thisresearch aims at constructing a geog-raphy of abandonment, to be added toa system of devices and operatingstrategies of intervention on the archi-tectural work.

RESEARCH INFOPolitecnico di Milano – Architecture and SocietySchool – Department of Architecture andPlanning –PhD in Urban and Architectural DesignHead of Research: Giulia SettiTutors: prof. Ilaria Valente - Politecnico diMilano. Contact person for the development ofresearch in Paris: prof. Laurent Salomon - Ecoled'Architecture de Paris BellevilleResearch started in March 2011Places of inquiry: the Lombard context withreference to the factory OTE (OfficineTrasformatori Elettrici), Bergamo. Comparisonwith the French context, Aubervilliers area,object of particular attention in the frameworkof the project for the Grand Paris, being a caseof a substantial disposal industryCase study: OTE_ Officine TransformersElettrici _ date: 1924, moved to Via Bianzana(Italy) between 1949 and 1960

notesI In «Rassegna», I territori abbandonati, n. 42,giugno 19902 In «Casabella», L’architettura dei piano, n.487-488, gennaio-febbraio 19833 In Sergio Crotti, I territori abbandonati, inRassegna, n. 42, giugno 1990, p. 704 In Philip Oswalt, Atlas of Shrinking Cities,Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern 2006 eShrinking Cities. Vol.1 e 2, InternationalResearch, Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern 20065 In Cristina Bianchetti, Il Novecento èdavvero finito. Considerazioni sull’urbanistica,Roma, Donzelli Editore, 2011, p. 466 In Pippo Ciorra, Sara Marin (a cura di), Re-Cycle. Strategie per l’architettura, la città e ilpianeta, catalogo della mostra in corso alMAXXI di Roma dal 1 dicembre 2011 al 29aprile 2012, Electa, Milano 2011, p. 187 In Bernardo Secchi, Le condizioni sonocambiate, in Casabella, n. 498-499, 1984, p. 12


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the enclosure textileThe final design is a unitary figure forthe whole area: unitary is the back-ground figure, the imprint, on which issuperimposed a fabric consisting of dif-ferent lines with different characteris-tics which are composed to form aweave. From the “mosaic” of the sta-tus quo, we pass to the design of an“enclosure textile” which identifies anentire part of the city. In the passage from the mosaic to tex-tile the closed perimeter which definesthe single tile loses sense and, throughthe legend which describes the stretch-es and pieces of enclosures, ends uptelling how each line is identified byits own physical character. Instead, theweb composed of lines and labyrinthinespace acquires importance, but it toois made up of pieces and parts whichrepresent the unitary background ofthat weave. These tiles are made up of area andperimeter, confined space and confin-ing element, and it is precisely out onthe perimeter that one can reason, con-sidering the single enclosure, as a partof a whole. Within the idea of puttingforward an all-embracing project to de-fine a completed part of the city likethat under consideration, the reasoningwill be set around the possibility of in-tervening on the edges of the singletiles to detach them.The idea is to transform this mosaic,which in reality is configured as a setof streets and walls which separatethese from the inaccessible innerspaces, into a mesh of elements whichidentify paths between these spaceswhich then become accessible. There is no longer a clear-cut separationbetween street and private internalspaces, but is possible to open thosespaces up and let them communicatewith one another in order for them to bereused and restored to the city togeth-er with the activities they contain, re-specting a layout which, from the pointof view of the urban composition is uni-tary and linked to its identity. “To the extent that identity is derivedfrom physical substance, from the his-torical, from context, from the real, wesomehow cannot imagine that any-thing contemporary – made by us –contributes to it.” [R. Koolhaas]

Napoli est. From the mosaic to the enclosure textileMaria Luna Nobile

The project area concerned with thisresearch is a section of the eastern areaof Naples, in particular, the area de-limited by the railway lines of the FSNaples – Salerno, to the south by thelimit of the port area and Via Marina, tothe east by the neighbourhood of S.Anna alle Paludi and Piazza Garibaldi,to the west by Via Traccia and the largepetroleum plants. This is an area which,starting from the early 1900, has un-dergone growing industrial develop-ment, “outside the city walls”, butwhich is today much closer to the cen-tre, much less industrial and virtuallyembedded in the city and city sprawl.

The industrial city after the abandon-ment begins to take on the most var-ied configurations. What is the role ofthe court in these parts of the city?“The process of industry dismissing hassuffered in recent decades becomingincreasingly popular in the industrial-ized world [..] The metaphor of “emp-ty spaces” – gray-area that occurs in theliterature on brown-field sites in manyways summarizes attitudes and com-mon feelings: emphasizes the characterof separateness that characterizes thework places, represented symbolicallyand physically materialized from thewalls that circumscribe the area andoffers a reductive interpretation of ur-ban realities and stories rather rich sed-iments and memories, often little stud-ied and likely to set himself up as un-derlying theme of the design assump-tions can read the potential of placesand architectures” [M.L. Barelli]

A project for the abandoned areas doesnot exist, except on the basis of mor-phology that try to identify the under-lying pattern, a sort of “urban negative”of the area that represents a diagramof the potential and character, to guidethe possible configurations, footprintimprinted in its layers that keeps thememory of the generic changes. Thusbecomes the decisive contribution ofmorphological studies.

The area identified is characterised bythe presence of disused industrialplants, and by intact fenced-off areaswhich still contain the industrial build-ings being gradually abandoned or forwhich is envisaged a new destination ofuse, as well as entire housing schemesrisen from the ashes of industrial lots.The possibility of proposing a new toolto read this area, starting from certainconsiderations on the definition of“boundary” inasmuch produced by“confining”, “delimiting”, means alsoproposing a possible reading whichmay be extended to many other urbansites, to many other sections of the city,especially those presenting an “indus-trial nature”.The characteristic of industrial plantsis their solidarity, their offering them-selves as a unique figure of wholeness.

The urban structure of these parts ofa city is interpreted as a “mosaic of en-closures”, inasmuch as the installationthat have arisen over the years on thebasis of a territory, already partitionedby its geo-morphological characteris-tics, are like tiles in which internal andexternal space are complementary.

RESEARCH INFO Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II” Dottorato in Progettazione Urbana XXII ciclo (2007-2010)coordinator of PhD Course in Urban DesignXXII ciclo: Prof. Fabrizio Spiritosupervisor: Prof. Roberta Amirantetutor: Arch. PhD. Paola ScalaStudy case: Napoli Est _ enclosures of industrial areas


119 14Iuav : Post agricoltural landscape. A focus on Arvier’s cooperativevineyards and winery in AostavalleyLorenzo Piacentino

Arvier is a tiny wine town surrounded bysteep rocky vineyards facing Dora River,in the extreme northwest of Italy. Vinecultivation in this area evolved from anexceedingly fractioned property condi-tion to a cooperative production sys-tem that permits easier economical pay-back and agriculture maintenance toprofessional standards. Therefore itkeeps productive, with many improve-ment in real estate organization, a her-itage landscape that otherwise wouldrapidly disappear for high productioncosts.Besides considering rural developmentissues and economical endurance offood companies the research focus onthe link between spatial arrangement(geographical condition, property own-ership, production system, etc.) and pro-ductive settlement. The proposal madeto public administration and winery ex-ecutive works on two levels: the reno-vation of cooperative statute by the in-tegration of free market and competi-tion elements, and the design of a pro-ductive settlement for emancipatedwine makers that reflect the new “po-litical” resolution.

introductionItalian agricultural and food chain pro-duction struggles in finding a balancebetween maintaining its traditionalpractices and the necessity of renova-tion of the whole production system.To disappear or to evolve are the onlychoices.The debate became a popular issuesince people and institutions increasedtheir attention on food quality and theway in which it is produced. The recog-nition by Unesco of many agriculturalsites such as vine terraces of Leman lake,the Tokaj area or the region of AltoDouro Vinhateiro in Europe are an ex-ample of this trend.The focus of this research is the wineindustry and its production system,since it deeply transforms and shapesthe territory in a recognizable way.Through small improvements in tech-nology and practices, generations ofworkers transformed territories in im-mense proportion gardens subjected toproduction activity; an immense green-industrial landscape.

case study analysisArvier is a tiny wine town in Aosta Valleytwenty kilometers far from Mont Blanc,750 meters above sea level, in the ex-treme north-west of Italy.At the beginning of the twentieth cen-tury, besides severe conditions such asrocky steep soils or altimetry limit forvine growth, there were eighteenhectares of vineyards cultivated on ter-races facing Dora River. Around twen-ty years later viticulture had a drastic felldue to root infection brought fromPhiloxera, a parasite introduced byAmerican vines. Few years later a newstruck was given by the conscription ofworkers for the Second World Wararmies. The combination of such fac-tors joined with mountains abandon byyounger generations led Arvier vine-yards to be less than two and a halfhectares in 1950. Today cultivated soilis around seven hectares and probably it

will grow more. The key operation tosave a piece of productive heritage andbeautiful landscape was made by theproducers in 1974 constituting a coop-erative for cultivation and transforma-tion of grapes in wine: a common en-terprise led by an elective committeeoperating for common advantage of itsmembers.This action solved the problem of frag-mentation of property, abandon andlack of expertise giving advantagessuch as cost reduction and large scaleinvestment.

project proposalThe following step for Arvier coopera-tive is to evolve its productive chain to-wards a system that allow traceabilityand high quality standard. Cooperativeproduction permit the preservation ofa production condition that otherwisewould be weak, but tend to reduce qual-ity performance on products becauseit does not provide incentives to pro-duce better.The research proposal consist in intro-ducing within cooperative statute se-lected elements of the free market ascompetition and autonomy in order topromote the growth of a new genera-tion of emancipated winemakers with-in the boundaries of the cooperative; anew production model that could bal-ance social and economical develop-ment in a joint venture between com-munity and personal interest.The relation between “political” orga-nization and spatial configuration hasbeen deepened through an investiga-tion on the numerous variety of com-munitarian settlement realized in thepast. The review made on produc-tive/settlement typologies (ricetto, cer-tosa, eremo) offered interesting hints forplanning/design solution and con-firmed the requirement for an improve-ment in cooperative standards followedby the establishment of new semi-in-dependent productive units.The new working organization wouldemerge from the spatial point of viewin the winery. Beside the existing build-ing a new settlement of small produc-tive entities would be integrated pro-viding the development of a diffuse pro-ductive complex organism.The idea is to bring into the design ofthe new settlement the organizationscheme, meant as productive resolution,of surrounding vineyards evolving co-operative to a more flexible productionsystem.

conclusionA fair consideration of Arvier Cooperativecase study suggest that the describedmodel, beside the appearance, is nolonger agricultural but rather a techno-industrial management. Critics on suchmodel are hard to do since the trans-formation from an agricultural admin-istration to an industrial one and theconsequent reflection on landscapesuch as the removal of the picturesquenarrow terraces for larger plots are tobe evaluated, avoiding consideration onauthenticity, in comparison with com-plete abandon of a beautiful agriculturethat is no longer feasible.The point is that there is no industrialor productive landscape without pro-duction; there are thousands examplesof buildings or landscape that for hon-esty sake are now meaningless muse-ums of their own structures.To disappear or to evolve?

RESEARCH INFOPolitecnico di TorinoDipartimento Interateneo di Scienze,Progetto e Politiche del Territorioresearch team:Prof. Grazia Brunetta, Prof. MarcoTrisciuoglio, Dott. Lorenzo Piacentinoplaces investigated :Municipality of Arvier and Avise,Areas of Enfer and Duronpartners of the research:Municipality of Arvier and Leverogne, Enfer wine production cooperative.time of development of the research: April 2011/December 2011functions of pre-existing structures:Vineyards and wine production settlments

Arvier, Enfer in 1900 Arvier, Duron in 2009


Iuav : 119 15

Polder inversion. Algae Park & Diffused Hotel. A study-case in polder Schieveen,RotterdamFederico Curiél

The research illustrates the develop-ment of a strategy in order to regener-ate a dutch polder into a productivereality.Exploiting the specific artificiality ofthe landscape itself, various sustain-able solutions are offered to satisfy theenergy demand on divers layers andscales without forgetting the localneeds. All the energy is produced by micro-al-gae processing CO2 into bio-fuel, har-vested in large scale and releasing oxy-gen in the atmosphere.Analyzing polders as antropic land-scapes and natural machines, they re-veal to be an optimal location for be-ing converted into large-scale harvest-ing ponds for the production of bio-mass and biofuel from algae, recyclingindustrial emissions and greenhousegases.Artificiality, pre-existences and specif-ic features of the territory determinethe creation of a new landscape type,which satisfies both the economical(productivity) and ecological (sustain-ability) needs of a metropolis suchRotterdam. The same biological process (eutroph-ication) happening within the algae-ponds on the scale of the park, can beexperienced on the architectural scalethanks to a system of tubes in whichalgae work as a bioreactor, recyclingall the emissions from the building andproducing energy.

dutch polders as landscapearchaeologiesThe role of a polder nowadays is quiteambiguous and source of discussions.Beside the technical and historical rea-sons of their construction and exis-tence, sometimes polders can be seen,on one hand, as big empty areas thatare getting closer and closer to theedge of Dutch cities in expansion, andtherefore potential locations for futureurban developments. On the otherhand, remaining polders are the last“oasis” of Dutch typical landscape, try-ing to survive the mutual context andthe innovation of agriculture with itsmeans for being more efficient and pro-ductive.We could finally split general thoughtsinto two main points of view, express-ing two radically opposite positions.The first one sees in polders a perfectoccasion to exploit the land and pro-vide urban expansion; the second po-sition tends to keep the existence of thepolder in its matter of facts, with itsrural activities, reckoning it as a typi-cal Dutch landscape (even though notaccessible to the most nor often at-tractive).It seems like no solution could satisfyboth parts and often the result, like inpolder Schieveen, is that polders sur-vive with big efforts, without grantingany specific attraction, remaining in itsstate of unproductive reality (consid-ering the ratio of production per squaremeter).In addition, it has to be considered thatevery polder, as a machine, requirescontinuous maintenance and energyfor keeping the water system runningand preventing the land from sinking.

visionConsidering polders as artificial land-scape and natural machines, a deepanalysis of the polders grammar havebeen carried out, reckoning some spe-cific features that can always be foundin any polder, usually differing just inmatter of sizes.Investigating how this artificiality couldbe of some use, I developed a generalstrategy of transformation, exploitingthe existing water system and the pold-er structure, giving answer to the fore-question. The solution is in harvestingmicro-algae and produce bio-fuel!- The large size of the plots in the pold-er are optimal for being turned into har-vesting ponds because what is impor-tant is the surface exposed to the sun-light rather than the volume of wateravailable;- Filling up the new ponds with waterwill not be such a big deal since wateris pumped out of the polder at the mo-ment into the external canal;- The existing pumping station and therelated infrastructures are ideal to beused for the new system without mod-ifications or could be easily turned in-to efficiency where it is necessary!- Due to the existing texture drawn bythe system of canals and its organiza-tion, the construction of the new ditch-es will be far less expensive than itwould be anywhere else!- Different algae species have variouscolours and reacts differently to diverseagents, therefore research and experi-ments are necessary, resulting in acolourful pond system which can be fig-uratively compared and associated tothe typical image of Dutch fields grownwith tulips!This kind of intervention preserves theasset, the proportion and the generalaspects of a typical polder, turning atraditional image into an innovativereality, which is even productive andattractive.

the locationPolder Schieveen finds itself on theedge of the city of Rotterdam, close tothe airport and nearby the new plannedBussiness Park. From an economicalpoint of view, this makes the whole areaa great potential deal for investors,which could multiply the effective val-ue of this land, used only for breedingand few other rural activities.Taking advantage of the existing CO2storage-network (developed by Shelland the Rotterdam Climate Initiative)that would ensure, passing underneathit, a continuous supply of CO2 processedby the new system realising oxygen inthe atmosphere, it is possible here toturn a problem (greenhouse gases) in-to a solution (biofuel from algae).This new “infrastructural establish-ment” proposed could be defined as atechnological landscape, a biologicalmachine that employs the same micro-organisms that colonised this land onceit was still part of the sea. Neither ar-chitecture nor landscape in the tradi-tional sense: a surrealistic atmosphereand context while producing a self-sus-taining ecology of machinic utility cov-ering the site.

the programThe design in first instance provides atransformation of a part of the polder,preserving and enhancing its formalstructure, creating a system of pondsfor harvesting of micro algae and some

Iuav : related activities, such as research,study and analysis, which will takeplace in some refurbished buildings lo-cated by the existing pump station.The result of this first operation is a newkind of landscape, a more sustainableand cutting-edge innovative version ofa polder, where the ground from theplots and the water from the canals areinverted.At this stage the polder, beside his greenand productive side, has a great poten-tial as attraction, therefore the decisionof establishing a diffused hotel, rent-ing “rooms spread in the new land-scape” for short-time stays; the nearnessto the airport ensures visibility (from theplane) and the need itself of receptivi-ty in the very next surrounding (due tothe new Business Park).Within the design of the new visitorscentre, some algae-tubes working asbioreactors have been developed in or-der to be applied as second skin to thebuilding and offering the chance of ex-periencing the biochemical process indifferent scales. This intervention notonly favours new activities but en-hances and supports the exhisting onessuch as agriculture, animal breeding,natural bird reservoir, etc...The new axis, inserted in the systemextending Rodenrijseweg’s direction inthe polder, ensures faster connectionbetween Delft and Rotterdam, espe-cially between the TU Campus and res-idential areas with cheaper rents wherestudents use to live, therefore it be-comes an important link for the wholemetropolitan network and its flows.This route, reserved to bikes and pedes-trians, is a trace playing strong againstthe polder’s geometry, allowing per-ception of its texture (usually appre-ciable only from a map), cognition ofthe core of the polder (otherwise inac-cessible) and the chance of experiencein first person the polder and both itslandscape and its new waterscape ofcoloured algae-ponds.

the biochemical process Harvesting micro-algae has beenproven to be the most efficient way ofproducing biofuel and biomass nowa-days: not only the production is on av-erage at least eight times bigger buteven faster, in facts the whole process,from graft to collection and squeezing,lasts only three days.Micro-algae grows faster and reproducethemselves only by processing the sun-light (or appropriate lighting systemsfor overnight production) and absorb-ing the CO2, releasing oxygen in theatmosphere as result of the photosyn-thesis. This process has obvious positiveconsequences on all the surroundingenvironment, interacting friendly withit and its fauna and preserving theirnatural condition.Scraps and waste from the productionare raw materials rich of proteins thatcan be recycled directly by the rural ac-tivities in the polder (as cattle feed andfertilizer) or turned into a variousamount of by products, and thereforepromoting the establishment of newpotential activities that would enrichthe attractiveness of the polder.

RESEARCH INFOStarted as a degree thesis at Politecnico diMilano and at TU Delft, this study has beenthen developed as a personal research andpresented in international competitions, ex-hibitions and conferences


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Looking for gold.Mapping the Johannesburg goldmine dumps into the contemporaryurban conditionNicole Theresa Raab

The scars left by the post-industrial ageon the urban surface are amongst themost complex tasks for LandscapeArchitects today. Literally every city isdealing with an often toxic industriallegacy, revolving around its specificstructural conditions.Harboring the world’s largest gold de-posit, Johannesburg evolved in only 125years from a gold mining camp into amegalopolis of 9M inhabitants. It isthe only megacity in the world not lyingon a major river or seashore, becausethe urban constitution and layout ofJohannesburg was dictated by a dif-ferent reality: it was dictated by a veinof gold.The remnants of this L’age d’Or, giantmine dumps dispersed across thedensely populated areas of the city,shape the city’s territories and image.The current procedure is to erase thesegolden pyramids from the cityscape toextract tiny amounts of gold, con-tributing to a mitigation of environ-mental problems, whereas critical no-tions against their elimination distin-guish their contested societal back-ground and spatial history intrinsic toJohannesburg’s urban fabric. Although the mine dumps ofJohannesburg serve as the single mostidentifiable symbol of the city, they re-main outside of well-known categoriesof landscape and constitute theground of an urban landscape in radi-cal transition.

Caught in a cycle of valued waste andpassive entity, this paper explores themine dumps and their perspectives inthe context of radical urban transfor-mation. It is a journey to explore therelationship between the city and itsmine dumps. It challenges normativestrategies and offers an in-depth de-bate through complex description re-search. Employing literature review andon-site exploration, these ‘urban voids’are mapped to establish new perspec-tives. The notion ‘urban wasteland’ isinvestigated through theory and casestudies of projects confronting similarpost-industrial sites, questioning theirability to deal with site-specific com-ponents.Interstitial, left-over places like thegoldmines, void of attribution, pose in-teresting challenges to the conven-

tional ways hegemonic architectureand planning discourse conceptualizespatial reality. The goal of the researchwas to dig into the hidden layers ofmeanings and narratives, expressedthrough the mine dumps’ historical,physical, toxicological and ecologicalconstitution complemented by findingsin field research. I did this in order torender a different future for the minedumps possible, which questions con-ventional modes of (re)developmentbeyond the establishment of typicalforms such as golf-clubs or parking lots. Ultimately, it is an attempt to integratethe mine dumps in twentieth and twen-ty-first century views on the urban con-dition, of giving them a place in histo-ry and a name to ensure their spatialand temporal continuity.The field research was inspiredideationally by Gil Doron and practi-cally by the Italian group ‘Stalker’. Theyargued in their “Manifesto through theActual Territories” that these interstitialplaces are to be physically witnessedrather than represented. They suggestentering the ‘discarded territories’ bycompleting a route between that whichis secure and quotidian and that whichis uncertain. The act of crossing theterritories renders a creative act, whichcreates a system of relations within thechaotic contrasting of time and spacethat characterizes them. The Stalker approach therefore is an ap-proach aiming at understanding andperceiving the city through its voids.

It was found that the mine dumps arenot empty voids, but essential to thecity’s history, its morphology and quo-tidian narratives. The uses found in situwere unique yet not everyday, but quo-tidian to those who pursue them. All ac-tivities investigated were activities ei-ther depending directly on the physi-cal attributes of the mine dumps or ontheir marginalized state to not raise at-tention. It was shown that the minedumps play a role in the life of many cit-izens on an everyday basis. This quo-tidian condition is related to leisure ac-tivities, or of survivialist nature.While the mine dumps must fall into thecategory of the ‘Aterritorial City’ out-lined by Bremner (2002), where mar-ginalized citizens remake the publiclyavailable city with the means availableto them, they cannot be integrated indefinitions of open space as defined bythe Johannesburg Metropolitan OpenSpace System. This instrument placesspaces, which are not ‘green’, automat-ically outside the system of open

spaces. This is a (re)produces a prob-lematic dualism, of ‘nature’ and culture,of greenfield and brownfield and ‘good’and ‘bad’. Doron (2000, 2002, 2003,2007) has pointed out that the reasonfor not being able for authorities to in-tegrate them into concepts of spaceother than degraded and empty lies inthe problem of looking at them fromafar. If they would be looked at fromclose-up it would become obvious thatthese places are not empty at all andit would maybe allow for new defini-tions of open space based on i.e. ac-tivities, and not on the fact of being orbecoming ‘green’.As the mine dumps have grown withthe city, and the city with the minedumps, the city has never existed with-out them. As such they contribute tothe urban condition specific toJohannesburg and therefore play a rolein how citizens understand their city.Field research has brought to light, theuses of the mine dumps are not boundto a single group but used by youngadventurers, families, homeless, stu-dents, kids and possibly many morealike. While migrants as they came tothe city for a better life are looking fortiny bits of gold, or live on these premis-es under most precarious conditions,the young urbanites use them for recre-ational purposes, others again usethem for getting closer to nature or agod, while for others they are an im-portant by-foot infrastructure, con-necting seemingly unconnected partsof the city in a non-motorized way.

The industrially abandoned, intersti-tial places in the city challenge our un-derstanding of landscape in and by it-self. They challenge conceptualities ofopen and public space in Johannesburg.They make us ask how meanings oflandscapes are not just determined byan aesthetic appearance, but also byresources they offer or are applied tothem, or lack thereof. I argue that placesfalling into disuse after industrial de-cline offer a world of opportunities foractivities, which cannot be accommo-dated elsewhere in the city. And so, these places represent places ofdesire and in a way providing activi-ties and opportunities at both ends ofthe economic scale. A historic ground-ing and curatorial approach may cre-ate new ways of reading them, engagecitizens with the contaminated land-scapes in their midst, place them with-in the contemporary city, and supportthe navigation between divergingstakeholder interests.

Iuav :

RESEARCH INFOBOKU Vienna | University of Natural Resources and LifeSciences. Dipl. Ing. Nicole Theresa Raab.Master’s Thesis supervised by Prof. Lilli Licka (BOKU) andAss. Prof. Jeremy Foster (Cornell University). Funded bya Research Scholarship from BOKU. 06.2011 - 02.2012.places investigated: Mining Belt of the City of Johannesburg.pre-existing structures: Defunct gold mine dumpsdating of “archaeologies” involved: 1886 till today

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