riccardo sforzi.

Delta Shelter

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A small summerhouse

Isola Madonna del Monte

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Venice, Italy

By analasying the city of Venice, I got fascinated by one of the architectural element that in my opinion, characterises the city: the tower. In fact, not only the symbol of the tower defines the different parts of the cities but especially the human presence and human control of the territory.

As the numerous examples of Venice show, the vertical element of the tower, combined with the longitudinal building to its side, represents one of the architectural typology of the city, and therefore an expression of its character.

Starting from this consideration, the design concept aims to develop a summer house and a sculptor’s studio into a vertical building positioned next to the longitudinal architecture of the preexisting ruin. 

The project area is the island of Madonna del Monte, an abandoned piece of land in the Venetian lagoon. The themes of the relationship with the context, both cultural and visual, and the respect for the existing condition are the main aspects of the project.

The different functions are located inside the tower: the first floor works as a foyer for the sculptor’s studio, in which guests are welcomed. On the following two floors the studio is located, with a direct connection with the existing ruin, that is transformed into an exhibition space: through an elevated platform it is possible to access the ruin, marked out by a natural garden on its ground floor, inaccessible by human presence. The intention behind the realisation of an elevated path lays behind the purpose of be respectful of the existing ruin and its configuration, by trying to intervene on it with the lightest intervention possible.

Above the studio there’s the more private part of the house: the bedroom for the sculptor, the living room, and the bedrooms for the guests on top. 

All along the tower the theme of the visual relationship with the context is expressed by the different openings tht characterise its facade: the alternation of wide windows and small windows on the different levels, combined with the presence of the balconies on the opposite facades, creates everytime a new visual experience with the landscape and its view. The same alternation and sequential rythm is reproduced in the ruin, where the exhisting windows determine the rythm of the elevated path of the exhibition space.

Regarding materiality, the decision of realising the tower with bricks strenghten the idea of relationship with the existing conditions of the ruin: until the level of the connection between the tower and the ruin the color of the bricks simulate the one of the old building, in order to make explicit the relationship betweeen the new add and the existing ruin; above that level, the white bricks express the architectural addition and the new element in time in the composition of the island.