Across the Kresty / to generate new peripheral centers. IUAV THESIS

Located at the mouth of the Neva river in the Gulf of Finland, on a hundred islands divided by canals and connected by over six hundred bridges, St. Pe- tersburg is a node of fundamental importance for road, rail, air and river communications, since the Neva is connected with a vast system of inland wa- terways. Precisely because of the characteristics mentioned above, the city immediately highlights a marked territorial complexity from the urban point of view and the study of the relative plans that have followed over the years, especially in the post-war reconstruction.

The final structure substantially identifies a radial aspect with the older and denser residential neighborhoods that extend as a ring around the monumental nucleus of the Admiralty building, the Winter palace, the cathedral and the fortress of the Santissimi Pietro and Paolo, fraying and gradually becoming more and more irregular as you move away from the center with the new residential construction districts and the industrial areas. In such a fragmented context at the level of destinations of use and at such high potential, Across the Kresty has the goal of stren- gthening the urban fabric, providing it with a direct connection between the citizen and the city itself, between the user and the spaces used; a HUB that connects and heals a laceration caused by the different overlapping layers of urban planes with different languages. A project that starts from the large scale, with the identification of areas of high potential up to the archi- tectural project, where the object is joined to the existing one, merging with each other and renewing a band of caesura on the banks of the Neva so important for the balance of the city. Covering elements, mark the points of arrival and intermodal exchange of transport, and then lead the user to the design fulcrum, where an imposing urban corridor stands parallel to the mir- ror of the water, leaning against and naming itself parasitic architecture. Why not reuse prisons rather than starting from scratch? The architectural characteristics of the prison typology, or structures designed to last over time, allow a design approach aimed at reuse. People often forget that prison buildings are not limited only to housing units, but also have a series of spaces that have great potential for reuse dictated by the presence of large outdoor spaces. Across the Kresty stands as a support center for universities that are already firmly established in the territory, a “sitting� structure on the preexisting prison crosses that varies the intended use and highlights the potential of this area that takes on different aspects, including archi- tectural-visual with respect to the user’s point of view.