Giovanni Gandini Portfolio 2011-2017
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Gandini Giovanni
Selected works Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio 2011-2017
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Curriculum Vitae
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Torino Palazzo Type
Studio Jonathan Sergison project with Chiara Carraro
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Flying Pool
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Inhabiting the port
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Another Nature
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Studio Burkhalter Sumi Studio Martin Boesch project with Marco Nathanson and Andrea Valentini Studio Junya Ishigami
Courtyard + Tower
Studio Jonathan Sergison
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Giovanni Arjuna Gandini architect AAM
About me
Architecture is for me the basic activity of interpreting and transforming a place in order to respond to human needs. The starting point of the project is hence the relation with the context both as it appears and as it embodies its history.In Europe that history is often shared with its urban environment. I am fascinated by building typologies as a way to learn and adapt from history possible relations between form and program, in an effort to fulfill earnestly people ambitions. Throughout my training courses, during the atelier work and the theoretical courses, I tried to compare different approaches, in a varied range of themes and scales. This enabled me to understand the features and the reasons of the respective approaches, broadening my understanding of the architectural practice and strengthening my ability to react to external inputs both from supervisor and from collaborators.
Work Experience
Aeby Perneger & associĂŠs SA Carouge, Switzerland Internship September 2013 - August 2014 I worked on different projects from large scale urban renovations ( competition for Sablon district in Morges - 1st prix) to hotel and restaurant refurbishments in Geneva. I was involved in various tasks such as project development, plan design, competition boards tuning, participation in studies of detail principles, model realization.
Language skills
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Italian | native English | upper intermediate French | upper intermediate
W E M A
https://issuu.com/giovanni_gandini/docs/giovanni_gandini_portfolio giogandi@gmail.com +39 348 751 3416 Viale del palazzetto 3, 23874 Montevecchia (LC), Italy
Education
MSc in Architecture 2015-2017 BSc in Architecture 2011-2015 Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio UniversitĂ della svizzera italiana Mendriso, Switzerland My diploma project, under professor Jonathan Sergison, is a large-scale urban investigation for a site near the railway station in Salzburg. The project, that deals with a challenging surrounding environment, is organized as a series of courtyard blocks that integrate a number of relatively low towers. Most of the building program consists of apartments which were studied carefully and in detail at a large scale. Reflecting my interest for the history of architecture, I wrote a theoretical paper under professor Gabriele Neri about housing typologies in pre and post war Milan, with a special focus on multilevel urban apartments and on the work of architects Giuseppe de Finetti, Gio Ponti, Tomaso Buzzi and Giovanni Muzio. Liceo Classico Alessandro Manzoni Lecco, Italy High school degree in classical studies 2011
Technical Skills
Drafting | Autocad Digital modeling | Rhinoceros Post processing | Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Indesign Rendering | Maxwell render Physical modeling
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Torino Palazzo Type Atelier Jonathan Sergison
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Turin is a city strongly characterized by the presence of a grid. This grid however is not a uniform system, but it rather presents differences in the dimension of the blocks and in the orientation of the streets, which allow each neighbourhood to
have its own character. The project (fig.4) aims to add a new piece to this fabric. It maintains the continuity of the axes in direction of the mountain, that in Turin facilitates the orientation. More articulation is introduced in the perpendicular
direction , to create a softer relation of the ensemble with its edges and to provide public spaces that are varied and somehow reminiscent of the traditional organization of the city. The system that originates from this interpretation of the grid is characte7
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1 Atmosphere image from 1:100 scale model 2 Image of an entrance from 1:20 scale model 3 Apartment view from 1:20 scale model 4 Urban strategy plan
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rizedby many squares linked by a network of smaller streets that, because of their misalignment, break the perspectives and give the feeling of being lost in a dense and constructed environment. The normative element of this new portion of city is represented by the Palazzo type, that embodies notions of scale, relation with neighbouring buildings, internal organization and representative character. Essential to this typology is the presence of an inner courtyard, a quiet space, specific to each building. The entrance is then a filter between this exterior and the courtyard. An ongoing dialog between the exterior and the interior is also what informs the design of the apartments, . In particular we developed typologies in which the loggia is the main element that shapes the spaces around it. As for the internal layout of the apartments, we tried to interlock together,
as in a puzzle, the living room and the dining and cooking area. Those rooms are clearly defined but yet in a continuity with each other, suggesting relaxed conviviality in their use. In this scheme the entrance takes place as a counterbalancing element to the loggia. With its small dimension it gives access to both the kitchen and the living room, as the last piece of the puzzle.
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4 Apartment view from model 5 Type floor plan 6 Ground floor plan 7 Facade towards street and courtyard
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Atelier Burkhalter Sumi Once a military food storage facility, the Eyscahchen areal in Altdorf is nowadays abandoned. The storage buildings, designed by prominent engineers and concrete construction pioneers R. Maillart, A. Zublin and J. Wyrsch, raise the question of their preservation as well as of the possibility of adaptation to new uses. Hence the motto of the studio Reclaimed Structures. The aim of the project is to reactivate Eyscahchen area in Altdorf with a strong architectural gesture, that would bring a new image and function to the site and lay the foundation of a re appropriation of the area by the city, both in its architectonic and landscape legacy. The two grain storage buildings by J. Wyrsch are transformed, after removing the wooden structures which lays above their
Flying concrete platforms, into a sport complex with basket and badminton halls as well as an Olympic-size 50 meters long swimming pool. The existing structure is used as a platform to build the new. What is preserved in this process is not however simply a footprint, because the logic of the punctual foundation of the storage has to become the basis for the structure above, which is then the primary device to articulate the space. The folding of the facade in particular distributes the weight of the roof and of the swimming pool on multiple foundation elements, ensuring the stability of the whole. The pool, with a floor about 8 meters above the ground level, is a stunning observation platform which relates to the scale of the surrounding landscape,
Pool overlooking the valley so that while swimming one can perceive the traffic running on the highway with the Alps as a background. The pool level is accessed from the base, where the changing rooms and a little spa are located, through a scenographic spiral staircase that receives light from above and brings the visitor directly into the swimming space. It is a progression from darkness and weight to light and openness. The space of the pool is defined by the structure of the two long beams that support the ceiling and their pillars, whose rhythm plays with the openings in the facade. It is continuous and open space, where the big scale of the intervention can be experienced and the light of the sun is let free to animate the atmosphere. 13
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1 Interior from scale model 1:50 2 Facade detail from scale model 1:50 3 Section model 1:50
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4 Upper floor plan 3 Ground floor plan 6 Longitudianl constructive section 7 Transversal detail section
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Inhabiting the port
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Atelier Martin Boesch
The city of Trieste developed greatly between the 19th and the 20th century under the Austro Hungarian Rule as it was meant to be the main port of the Empire on the Mediterranean Sea. The different grids that characterize the urban fabric of the city date back
to this era, as well as the facilities of the old port. Following the changes in the naval technologies, this vast area has become obsolete and its impressive buildings have remained dormant, precluding the access to a relavant 17
portion of seafront for more than half a century. As the jurisdiction over the old port is being transferred from the Port Authority to the Municipality, the development of this area represents an opportunity for the city to rethink its relation to both the sea and its historical heritage. This studio aims to contribute to the discussion over the future of this place drawing attention to the possibility that the existing heritage has to act as an ordering element on an urban level, both with its grid and its proportion between built and void. The underlying observation is that the port warehouses have in their relation with each other somehow already an urban character. Our work is indeed part of this general reflection over the site. Focusing on the warehouse n.2 in particular we proposed the creation of a closed courtyard with the opposite warehouse. Such space, which is shared between the residents of those building and treated as a natural park, is meant to be repeated between the other warehouses, introducing a change in the typology that has the possibility to reorganize the urban fabric of the area. Inside the building, in consideration of its extreme depth of 27 meters, 7 square courtyards have been created to bring light inside the apartments. Those are accessed through common galleries that reduce the need of inserting new staircases in the existing structure and facilitate exchanges between the residents. These devices have been used to bring the greatest diversity to the residential unities, that range from 48 to 197 sq.m., on one or two floors.
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1 Constructive section 2 Courtyard section 3 Longitudinal section 4 Territorial section
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5 5 View through the light-well 6 Second floor plan 7 First floor plan 8 Detail of one aprtment
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Another
Atelier Junya Ishigami
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When an abandoned building is left under the influx of the natural agents for a sufficient amount of time, a new condition slowly starts to emerge. The decaying work of man and the forces of nature begin to be felt as equivalent and together, as a whole, they form a new environment with its peculiar atmosphere. Alterations, irregularities, different degrees of integrity between each part cease to be elements in need of repair and are understood as elements of the patina that is the sign of the passing time. To understand the ruin as a new environment instead of as a building to be renovated is the aim of this project. In this way, another nature slowly begins to emerge. Milan, a city where the transition between the industrial past and the present has left many traces that are still in need of an interpretation, is the survey field of this investigation.
The chosen site is a the Innocenti car Manufacturing plant, that was abandoned in the early 90’s after the bankruptcy of the Italian car maker. Once part of a bigger plant, which has been redeveloped to house a new residential district, the object of the intervention is one industrial pavilion measuring 311 by 75 meters. It is an object of a strikingly big scale. Looking at it we feel as if we were looking at a mountain or at another natural phenomenon whose dimension is way above ours. It is advanced state of decay has made possible the growth of a luxuriant vegetation, that seems to fit so well that one can question if the building wasn’t originally meant for this purpose. The intervention takes the new environment spontaneously generated in this place as a starting point to open it to the neighbouring district as a park for recreational activities.
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3 Water ponds (fig.1, fig.3) Some water ponds are created as places for relax and to contemplate nature in the setting of the park. Some of them are also meant to be used during summer as swimming pools, enriching the range of activities this place offers.
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Greenhouse (fig.2) By repairing and glazing part of the existing structure a space is transformed into a greenhouse. A different kind of vegetation can thus grow inside, providing visitor with the experience of a different sight and climate.
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Open air theater (fig.4) The interior of the facade becomes the backdrop of an open air theater that overlooks on the surrounding environment. The seating takes place on the grass of a hill created for the purpose. On the roof structure some ivy is grown to provide shadow during summer.
6 Hills (fig.5, fig.7) To make the experience of the interior space more dynamic, the topography is remolded creating some hills. At the same time the hills allow to get closer or farther from the roof, creating alternatives in the perception of the space.
Relax area (fig. 6) Taking advantage of some cracks in the concrete floor, some specimen of ficus carica have started to grow inside the building. By putting some tables and chairs under the shadow of those trees, a relax area is created close to the new swimming pool.
Bar (fig.8) Close to the facade, another repaired and closed section of the building is transformed into a bar. The counter is placed parallel to the windows, that create a very well lit backdrop, open to the surroundings.
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Playground (fig.9) Profiting of an existing balcony placed against the facade, a playground is organized around the children’s slide. In this particular place the encounter between the new hills and the existing wall creates some very low passages, where children can play.
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Scale model 1:100 Previous page: situation model 1:500
Courtyard
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Tower
tion to the Baroque arrangement of the spaces around the cathedral and to the Neuestadt district, that was developed particularly during the 19th and 20th centuries. In both those areas a great amount of the urban fabric is characterized by the courtyard typology, a tool capable of creating a definite urban structure by a clear distinction between public and private spaces, while providing
the right amount of unbuilt surface necessary for the need of air and light, that the contemporary ways of living requires. The possibility of neatly defining enclosed spaces and calibrated openings is also of interest in consideration of the proximity of the site to the railways and the subsequent necessity of protection. This peculiar typology takes the form of single blocks of great dimension
Atelier Diploma Jonathan Sergison The densification of the area around the train station is part of a urban renewal of great scale and ambition, that takes part separately east and west of the railway tracks that create a barrier setting two different axis for urban development. Envisaging a strategy for the area east of the station, the project refers to the dense urban fabric that characterize the city center with particular atten-
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1 Urban atmosphere
with multiple courtyard, intended as a way to clarify the relation of the unbuilt space to the street and to the railway, reducing the narrow spaces between each block. As a counterpart to the continuous fabric of the courtyards, towers are added as moments of accent that relates to bigger clearings, introducing variety in the city landscape and charging the public space with greater intensity of use. The changes in the orientation that are introduced aim to reconcile the intervention with the existing structure of the site as well as to create more dynamic relation between the 28
different public spaces, giving a greater deepness to the movement from the access road to the tracks. The atmosphere of the place is distinctively urban with defined squares that flow one into the other, allowing the possibility of long perspectives and transition from mainly mineral spaces to natural ones that can be qualified as parks, while internal courtyards provide quiet private spaces that creates a sense of identity for each building. At its edges, this system allows for selective openings where natural vegetation becomes part of the character of the neighbourhood.
2 Courtyard types in Salzburg 3 Courtyard view
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4 Ground floor plan 5 Type floor plan
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Thank you.
Giovanni Gandini giogandi@gmail.com +39 348 751 3416 https://issuu.com/giovanni_gandini/docs/ giovanni_gandini_portfolio
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