portfolio
2014
Giulia Caterina Verga
Part 0
work experiences
competitions and research
intro and cv
2014
2013
Giulia Caterina Verga
October 2012 // March2013 Internship as researcher at Rotor (Brussels): Main exhibition “Behind the Green Door”, Oslo Architecture Triennale 2013
2012
22//05//85 Florence, Italy currently living in Brussels contacts: giuliacaterinaverga@gmail.com it +39 329 1323608 be +32 488 594 193
skills As an architect, I really enjoy being part of an interdiciplinary team and participating in developing and executing projects. I take an active and engaged role, in all stages of the process: from research, to concept design and representation (modeling, drawing and visualizing). In the past year, working as an assistant curator for Rotor, I have had the chance to explore a more curatorial approach to architecture, that I wish to build on.
March 2013 // Dec 2013 Employee as assistant curator at Rotor (Brussels): Main exhibition “Behind the Green Door”, Oslo Architecture Triennale 2013
2011
2010
April 2012 // Sept 2012 Collaboration as architect with MdU Architetti (Florence): -Exhibition “Coveri story”, Camera di Commercio di Prato -Skyscraper in Hong Kong concept design
Sept 2011 // Feb 2012 Teacher assistant for the 1st year design studio at the Architecture Faculty, University of Florence
2009 Sept 2010 // Feb 2012 Collaboration as architect with MdU Architetti (Florence):
2008 2007
-Competition for the MEIS (Museum of Jewish Culture) in Ferrara (Italy) -Competition “Bressanone Library” (Italy) -Competition “Oslo National Museum“ (Norway) -Competition “Riconfigurazione spaziale Cattedrale Aragonese di Ischia” (Italy) -Concept design for ‘Tuscan Life’ in Manciuria (China)
2005 2004 1999
Feb 2009 // June 2009 Internship at MdU Architetti (Florence)
Dec 2013 // Jan 2014 Submiting entry for the competition “Kanal Play Ground” organized by Platform Kanal (Belgium) May 2013 Contibution with the artist Lisa Spillaert ‘s work: “Red shoes hotel” showed in Gehnt (Belgium) January 2013 // June 2013 Concept, branding and iteriors of the wine bar: “La Vinsantaia di Capezzana” in Florence, Italy Juanuary 2013 Special mention in the international competition: “Becoming Europe” organized by Atelier Paema (Italy) May 2011 Participation International workshop INDESEM: “Losing Ground” organized at the TU Delft (Netherlands) Sept 2010 Attending the visiting school titled “Beyond Entropy” organized by the Architectural Association (UK) for the Venice Biennale May 2010 Submission to the competition: “MettIti in gioco” organized by PLinto (Italy) Dec 2008 3rd prize ex-tempore student competition: “Tra fiume e città” organized by IX Concorso Internazionale per Idee d’Architettura, Tra Architettura e Città
education
June 2012 // Sept 2012 Passed the state abilitation exam Register of Architects of Florence (Italy)
Sept 2009 // April 2012 Politecnico di Milano (Itlay) Master Degree in Urban and Architectural Design grade 110/110
Sept 2011 // Feb 2012 TU Delft (Netherlands) - Politecnico di Milano (Itlay) Thesis research and project on the mobility node of Rotterdam South Supervisor: Roberto Cavallo, Marcelo Sancez, Antonella Contin Jan 2011 // June 2011 TU Delft (Netherlands) Erasmus Project
languages
English TOEFL 96/120 IELTS 7.5/9 TOEIC 960/990
Sept 1999 // July 2004 Liceo Scientifico Niccolò Rodolico (Italy) Scientific high school diploma grade 100/100
Behind the Green Door, OAT 2013 *2012/2013
French
1.3 Offices building Palazzina Uffici *2012
1.5
1.6
Bressanone Library Biblioteca di Bressanone *2010
Oslo National Museum in Oslo *2009
MEIS National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah *2011
Chamber of Commerce in Prato *2010
Offices in Lucca *2012
computer skills
Revit Architecture (Certificated course)
1.2 HK Garden Sky Scraper *2009
Coveri Story exhibition *2012
Autocad
European Embassy in NY *2012/2013
Interviews OAT *2013
1.1
Spanish
1.4
1.7
Adobe Illustrator
1.8
1.9
Adobe InDesign Google Sketch Up Rhino
Sept 2004 // June 2005 University of East London (UK) Foundation year of the Extended Architecture undergraduate degree
works and competitions
Italian
Adobe Photoshop
Sept 2006 // July 2009 Universìtà degli Studi di Firenze (Italy) Bachelor degree in Architecture grade 110/110 with honour
Part 1
index
Word/PowerPoint/ Excel Office
1.10
Finalcut
La Vinsantaia *2013
1.11 120 euros house *2011
1.13
Tuscan winery *2010
1.14
1.12 other works
1.15
Part 1.1 works and competitions
Behind the Green Door. Architecture and the Desire for Sustainability. status where year team role
Main exhibition Oslo Architecture Triennale 2013 Oslo-Bruxelles October 2012- December 2013 Rotor asbl, Giulia Caterina Verga, Livia Cahn Assistant curator
The Oslo Architecture Triennale (OAT) is the Nordic region’s biggest architecture festival, held every third year in Oslo. On its 5th edition, after receiving 23 applications from around the world, the Brussels based collective Rotor has been selected as curator of the event. The title given was “Behind the Green Door – Architecture and the desire for sustainability”, aiming to research further the notion of sustainability. The curatorial concept was developed in collaboration with Criticat. In the one year of work on this event, Rotor has been working especially on the Triennale main exhibition, collecting over 600 objects, all carrying claims of sustainability, from over 200 architecture offices, companies and environmental organisations across the world. Together these objects form a collection of curiosities, exhibited at DogA from September to December 2013. The exhibtion will travel to Copenhagen in February 2014, hosted by the Danish Centre of Architecture. I started following this project since September 2012 and evenr since I’ve followed the unfolding the exhibition, the spatial proposals, the artefacts selection role in the development of this exhibition, until its opening.
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“As a starting point for the main exhibition we 1 entrace of the exhibition with project machine
2-5 images exhibited: Bosco Verticale’s construction 2012, magazine from 1948, Gruppo 9999 collage from 1971, styrofoam advertisement from the ‘60s
looked at a broad variety of building projects that claim to be sustainable. Rather than starting from our own assumption as to what is to be considered sustainable, and then trying to find good examples to illustrate our point, we have chosen to document what others call ‘sustainable’. To talk about these projects, we did some reverse archeology. We collected significant fragments and relics that bear testimony of the environmental aspirations. Digital render, façade study model, software package, promotional leaflet, material sample, mock-up, quote... our collection of physical and digital objects quickly grew into an impressive quantity of materials, which we narrowed down to 600 pieces. Each of these is presented as an original artifact, accompanied by short, factual captions that helps the visitor to understand the context it was taken from. Some of the exhibits assume that large scale action is the way forward, others stick to acupunctural interventions. Some advocate technological innovation, others hinge on changes in consumption patterns. Some are rural, others are urban. Some intervene heavily in the build environment, others refrain from doing so. The selection we’ve made, however subjective and arbitrary, was deliberate in its intention to be diverse. We have allowed ourselves to be liberal about what constitutes the boundaries of the field of architecture. The exhibition includes product design, graphic design, urban planning, engineering as well as many other disciplines in its purview.
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The exhibition is open ended. Visitors are not offered a single narrative that ties everything together. The exhibition doesn’t want to convince the visitor to live his or her life more sustainably, but instead wants to show how the concept of sustainability operates as a powerful agent of change in today’s world.” From the presentation text of the exhibition, Rotor 2013 7 6 core of the exhibition and backdrop
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7-9 images exhibited: suburban house with solar panels 2012, Behnisch Architects IBN Institute diagram 1994, screenshot from the clip on the Nordic Built meeting 2012
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12 10 Sobek House R128 model, algae façade and green wall
13 11 view on the table talking about “concrete”
12 model of Boeri Architetti’s Bosco Verticale, MVRDV’s Hannover pavillion model, H&H’s table
13 detail of the collection table
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16 14 detail of the collection table
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17 15 view of the table talking about “performances”
18 16 Edesa Pavillion model made by IAAC
17 solar panel foldable bike from the ‘70s
18 view on the table talking dealing with “cimneys”, with BIG‘s ski slope incinerator model
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L. Lighting
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H. Seating
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J. Cladding materials
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C. Screen/Gateway for the exhibition
A. Entrance of DogA
I. Landscape of exhibits F. Project machine
D. Wall-text M. Back Wall
K. Ventilator
G. Quote machine
23 19-22 images of the model used in the shaping of the exhibition scale 1:10
23 schematic plan of the parts composing the exhibition
E. Guided tours area
B. Shop area
Part 1.2
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2
works and competitions
Video interviews OAT status where year team role
Interviews Oslo and Florence September/October 2013 Livia Cahn, Giulia Caterina Verga interviewer and editing
During the opening days we have realized a series of interviews to the curators and guests arrived to visit the exhibition. The format was made to be uploaded online and included in the blog “Archdaily” and in an article of the online section of the magazine “Abitare”. We have asked our interviewee to describe one of the over 600 artefacts exhbited. We have interviewed: Arjen Oosterman, chief editor of the magazine “Volume”; Eva Franch, Director of Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York; Mirko Zardini, Director of the Canadian Centre for Architectuer Montreal; Nanne de Ru, Director of The Berlage Institute in Rotterdam; Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, founder of Snøhetta Architects; Karl Otto Ellefsen, Rector of the Oslo School of Architecture; Carolyn Steel, author of “Hungry City, how food shapes our lives; Arild Eriksen and Joakim Skajaa from Eriksen Skajaa Architects; Nanna Bjerre Hjortenberg, Head of Exhibitions from the Danish Centre of Architecture in Copenhagen; Andres Lepik, Director of the Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität München; Gilles Perraudin, founder of Perraudin Architecture; Willem Bruijn Architect at Baumschlager Eberle; Reinhard Kropf, co-founder of Helen & Hard; Luc Schuiten, artist and illustrator from Brussels; Kjell Arne Brekke, Professor of Economics at the University of Oslo; Dagur Eggertsson, from Rintala Eggertsson Architects; Caroline Maniaque-Benton and Jérémie McGowan curator of the ehbition “Far out voices”. In october also Carlo Caldini, founder of the Gruppo 9999 (a team working within the radical movement based in Florence in the ‘70s) has been interviwed, but this time estensively for total footage of 2 hours.
1 screen-shots from the OAT interviews published on-line
2 photos of one of the meetings with Carlo Caldini, from Grupo 9999, here showing original collages from the ‘70s
Part 1.3
1
works and competitions
European Embassy. United in diversity. status where year team role
Competition proposal awarded with special mention NY December 2012- January 2013 Fabrizio Furiassi, Giulia Caterina Verga Concept design, text, architecture and drawings
The role of embassy is to represent a common political view, rising from the richness based on diverse cultures, traditions and languages of Europe. In this terms, the vocation of this institution is based on the shaping of a political force that takes the strength from the common cultural roots. The architectural proposal aims to house different functions in the same place, highlighting the cultural richness originated by the diversities. With this purpose we decide to redefine the embassy in typologicalterms, introducing unprecedented functions. First of all the building is released from its typical “fortification” and opened to the city and the citizens. This is admittedly intended to give it a new “homeostatic capacity, or rather making it spatially defined, and yet traversable” . This is made possible with two simple but significant operations, replacing its characteristic wall with a line on the ground - as in the playground - and lifting the building liberating a large public space on the ground floor. These operations permit to open a new place where cultural events - managed in rotation by each of the EU member countries -produce opportunities for diffusion of European culture, and exchange knowledge with people from all over the world. In this sense the main diplomatic mission is literally to initiate a new process of thinking, oriented to stimulate a renewed perception of Europe and of its role. The building is designed to be the magnet and the diffuser of European identity - of its culture and pluralities - through its form and function. The whole building is in fact designed as a platform containing a variety of functions: theatre, library, mediateque, restaurants, cafes, workshops, gardens, meeting rooms, offices, lecture rooms, exhibition spaces. The circulation is free and all public functions are accessible 24/7.
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1 south-east view of the Embassy building and the UN “Glass Palace”
2 view from the water side
3 view of the public space on the ground floor
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The main floor is the ground square. It is a wide open space enriched by the complexity of its form that -through the towers - gives access to the other floors and defines different possible interactions between functions. The relations that such an extraordinary place can shape take advantages of all functions housed in the building, the cavities and openings in the roof and the basement open new direct views and implements the above mentioned interactions. The towers - that sustain the upper floors - are differentiated for dimension and function, performing not only the distribution of the space, but providing orientation to the users. The diplomatic function takes place in the large plate over the plural and varied landscape is kept. The two floors of this plate are designed following the same concept of the ground floor, or rather different functions intersecting each other. The roof instead is used as a science park, where sustainable energy is generated and explored by a wide range of renewable systems, established and experimental devices. Concept The European Union is a political body underpinned by the 2009 Treaty of Lisbon. Since the 1957 Rome treaties, all the institutions of the community - previously called the European Economic Community, the European Community and then the EU - were envisioned as parts of a progressive process that brought together expertise and that was never intended to over-ride the sovereignty of its individual member states. Following Maastricht, first the so called European constitution in 2004 - rejected by the French referendum - and then the Treaty of Lisbon, which currently forms the institutional basis of the Union - 27 countries came together economically, politically and in part also culturally, although the latter is not laid out in the institutional treaties. This process has always been legitimised by a generic cultural discourse, that is summed up by the notion that a European Union can exist because its nations share similar cultural traits. This concept, summarized with the motto “United in diversity” comes up again and again in documents and speeches about the Union, and suggests that the EU bring Europeans together creating peace and prosperity and that many diverse cultures, traditions and languages united constitute the wealth of the continent. This heritage - a term often cited in European documents - can hence forth be passed onto future generations. Nevertheless, as the German philosopher Habermas highlights, the current economic crisis has brought to light the Union’s structural flaws that can only be overcome with a suitable political reaction. “The EU does not have the remit necessary to harmonise national economies, which are marked by drastic divergences in their capacity to compete […] Non-binding agreements in the circle of government leaders are either ineffective or anti-democratic, and it is for this reason that they should be replaced by common decisions taken in a clearly defined institutional framework”.1 On a global scale, it looks like the EU’s authority, economic strength, and cultural dimension might be set to lose its prevalence. A European diplomatic service has recently been created as an initiative to confront this risk. This service is intended to secure a consultation with representatives of the member states of the Union on an international level. This operation is currently stalling; one could indeed say it never took off, due of member’s differences concerning foreign policies since the gulf war. We take into account all of these factors and, therefore, we advocate a new European governance with a univocal development strategy in order to redraw an elevated place for the EU on the international stage. As declared by some of the founding fathers of the Europe “the question which must be resolved first - failing which process is a mere appearance - is definitive abolition of division of Europe into national, sovereign states”.2 “The sovereign nations of the past can no longer solve the problems of the present; they cannot ensure their own progress or control their own future”.3 1 Habermas, Jurgen (2011) “On Europe’s Constitution - An Essay”. Berlin: Suhrkamp. 2 Spinelli, Altiero (1941) “Il Manifesto di Ventotene”. Rome: Società anonima poligrafica italiana. 3 Monnet, Jean (1976) “Memoirs”. London: William Collins Sons & Co
4 images representing the public fucntion and possible activities in the open square
5 axonometric view of the different floors
Part 1.4 works and competitions
Coveri story.
Exhibition on the work of the stylist Enrico Coveri. status where year team role
Scenography of the exhibition Prato June 2012- September 2012 Mdu Architetti, Giulia Caterina Verga Collaborator
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This exhibition has been conceived around the fashion creations of the stylist Enrico Coveri, 40 years after his debut. Original dresses, drawings, paintings and photographs have been showed and arranged in the space by the architecture office Mdu Architetti, who designed also the building housing this show.
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The scenography is based on fabrics, produced locally by the historical industry developed in the area of city of Prato. These fabrics have been displayed as architectural partitions, characterizing the space and recalling a colourfull and joyful suspended world. The patterns used in the scenography have been inspired by the stylist’s production and research, including one developed after Keith Haring’s illustrations.
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The exhibition has been held in the Chamber of Commerce of Prato, in Tuscany, from the 24 of October 2012 until the 18 of January 2013. The exhibition has been curated by Martina Corgnati, Luigi Salvioli e Ugo Volli. I have been following and drawing the concept evolution of the scenography, in constant discussion with the curatorial team.
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1 storyboard of the exhibition areas
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2 floor plan
3 collages showing the scenography’s elements
4 photos to be shown in the exhibition
5 patterns of textile studied
Part 1.5
1
works and competitions
HK Garden Sky-Scraper status where year team role
Concept design Hong Kong July 2012 Collaborator in the concept design phase
Hong Kong has one of the highest population densities in the world with 7 million people concentrated in an urban area of just over 200 sq. km. Only 20% of its land area of 1100 sq. km. is destined for urban development due to restrictive topography and the necessity to protect parkland and water gathering grounds. In 2011 Hong Kong received a record-high 42 million visitors from around the world, a remarkable increase of 16.4% over 2010, 22 million of these stayed for at least one night with an average of 3.6 nights per stay and a 89% hotel occupancy rate. The project HK Garden Sky Scraper, a development of the central Hong Kong Park, will create a brand new landmark in the heart of the city complimenting the already famous skyline and at the same time creating a major tourist attraction. It will vertically combine green themes of garden design with botanical and aviary rarities. The skyscraper, with a height of 320 meters, will consist of 8 open-air suspended squareshaped 88 x 88 meter floors offering a different theme (rainforest, formal, orchard and kitchen, didactic, sensory - sound\smell\taste\color) and structured according to the rules of Feng Shui. Each floor will be 10 meters high, providing both the necessary ground and water supply to permit plant growth and indoor space for services, restaurants, markets, nurseries etc. The open space between floors will vary depending on the height necessary for the specific vegetation chosen. The connecting structure will be an irregular network of slim pillars, similar to a bamboo forest. A circular vertical space will stretch from ground level up to a reversed cone in the form of a structural tense-net. This spectacular, ascending, transparent space will be the largest aviary in the world.
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This vertical space will also house a spine of lifts, elevators and stairs from ground to the top floor, which will offer a 360 degree view of the city and bay. This garden sky-scaper will be situated in the existing artificial park lake, which will be re-shaped to surround the pillars at ground level. An underground station housed in a transparent structure on the lake bed, will be connected to the main Admiralty station of the Hong Kong underground network. This new “green for green� building will be capable of producing its own water and power supply. The building will be open to the public, residents and visitors, and will be an unmissable focal point of Hong Kong.
4 1 urban views on the context
2 view of the vertical garden going through the building
3 concept sections
4 schematic planimetry of the park
Part 1.6 works and competitions
Bressanone Library status where year team role
International competition Bressanone, Italy June 2010-August 2010 Mdu Architetti, Giulia Caterina Verga, Acs Inhegneri, Seti Ingegneri Promoter and collaborator, concept design, plans studies, 3d, renderings. 1
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The new library in Brssanone, in the Italian region of Trentino Alto Adige, is deeply rooted in its historical and natural context. The intervention concept emerged from the dialogue of two main elements: the historical town centre and mountains in the surroundings. The building is therefore conceived to evoke an exchange with the existing context, creating a new volume that can represent a new contemporary centrality, as a sum of the identitarian elements of this place. The library becomes not only a place for culture to be stored, but and active attractor in the city life, where new dynamics can spark. A library is here intended as an important function of the public realm of a city, it needs to be visible and well recognizable. The project for the new library integrates four existing elements: the ground floor the bishop building next to the city cathedral, three floors of another construction right on the corner of the main square, a court yard and a back garden. The location is in fact placed in the historical heart of the town, right beside the cathedral, which is undoubtly the greater urban landmark; It is exactly on its corner that the new volume has been designed, as a meeting point of the existing with the new function there established.
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1 site plan
2 floorplans
3 view of the entrance
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4 area view
5 elevations
6 view of the back garden
7 views of the interiors
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8 faรงade construction detail
Part 1.7
1
works and competitions
Ice Flower.
New Norwegian National Museum. status where year team role
International competition Oslo, Norway March-June 2009 Mdu Architetti, Giulia Caterina Verga, Acs Inhegneri, Seti Ingegneri Collaborator, 3d modeling, floors plans studies
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A “flower of culture” located in the fjord landscape. The National Museum is conceived as an emotional bridge that should evoke in the contemporary city natural emotions: architecture becomes an icon of nature. The building is a flower of culture sprung up from the city landscape that should give a positive, intuitive sense of the cultural institutions that houses; a white iceberg abandoned by the backwash of the sea, whose internal major spaces are treated as excavations or fractures. The Museum Complex, on the geographic dimention of the fjord, should start an inteplay with the natural elements – the sea, the islands, the sky, the hills – and the city monuments – the City Hall, the Akershus Fortress, the New Opera. A new major public institution that should appeal to the general public and generate new urban relations in the Oslo waterfront. The Oslo National Museum should become a positive example of how architecture should contribute in the creation of a collective consciousness on environmental issues and, on a higher level, promote a renovated symbiosis among man and nature.
1 view from the fjord
2 florplans
3 3d model
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4 area plan
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5 views
6 hall view
7 / elevation
8 section
9 view of the terrace
Part 1.8 works and competitions
MEIS.
National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah status where year
International competition Ferrara, Italy March-June 2011
team
Mdu Architetti, Francesco Colzi, Roberto Vinante, Giulia Caterina Verga, Prof. Amnon Barzel, CittĂ Futura soc. coop.mechanical engeneer, dott. Francesco Martini, ALTAIR 4 MULTIMEDIA
role
Collaborator, concept studies and plans development
The National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah, will be located in the city of Ferrara, to find a place where the continuity of the more than bimillennial Jewish presence in Italy could fully recognized and celebrated. The competition submission is a project aiming at the creation of a shared public space, where either citizens and visitors can interact with the museum. The main idea was to actuate a reconceptualization of the present state of the location, a former prison with its very clear and typical typology: walls around it, a main reclusion block with double height corridors. The challenge in therefore to create a new conceptualization of the prison remains and integrate them into an museum itinerary.
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The public space before surrounded by heavy borders is in this psoposal open to its context by the gesture of cutting its walls at the base, in order to invert the enclosure of such urban area. An unexpected exchange with the surrounding is proposed, a metaphore for the relationship of jewish community i the italian history and present. The museum is articluated through the existing blocks and completed by two new volumes, the frist at the entrance and other at the rear of the itinerary, closing a court yard.
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1 entrace view
2 exhibition rooms
3 level 1 floor plan
4 cutted walls view
5 section
6 floorplans
Part 1.9
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works and competitions
Chamber of Commerce in Prato status where year team role
Mdu Architetti comission Prato, Italy 2006-2012 Mdu Architetti, Lorenzo Boddi, Eugenio Salvetti, Luca Erbaggio, Giulia Caterina Verga, Favero & Milan ingegneria s.p.a., SETI ingegneria s.r.l. Collaborator for interiors drawings and renderings
The existing building above which this new intervention is taking place is an interesting example of mid XX century reinforced concrete industrial architecture. The compact volume, enclosing an inner court, is bounded by severe facades with a sequence of rectangular windows. The project keeps the building almost untouched and expresses the transformation in the new Headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce through a dialogue between the new and the existing merging together in a new entity ambiguously suspended upon past, present and future. The metal fabrics covering expresses the transformation: a radical gesture wich generates a new main actor in the urban landscape keeping untouched the existing facade still visible. A series of cuts, defined by moulded corten walls, open the building and the inner court to the city.
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1 photos
2 floor plan of level 1
3 views
Part 1.10 works and competitions
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Offices in Lucca status where year
Mdu architetti commission Lucca, Italy June-July 2012
team role
Mdu Architetti, Giulia Caterina Verga Collaborator for renderings
This intervention is based on the renewal of a bigger area of Lucca Fiera (expo area). The existing building has been wrapped in a lace of cortain creating an in between space where the old meets the new part. The transparency changes according to the facade behind. The entrance is underlined by a glazed part where the trees can mirror themselves and establish a contact with the exterior. On the roof the volume has been closed and creates a terrace with a large window that shows the ethereal consistency of the new light volume and the relation with the sky that opens behind.
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1 floor plans
2 section
3 views
Part 1.11
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works and competitions
Tuscan winery status where year team role
Mdu Architetti commission Tuscany, Italy March-April 2010
Mdu Architetti, Giulia Caterina Verga Collaborator for functional studies and floor plans development 3
This project has been developed starting from the hilly country side landscape around and the existing building. The new intervention is insert under the existing hill, what is shown is just a glaze cut in the declivity. The winey is intended and designed as a flux of people, grapes, fluids and machines; different paths has been detected and designed, trying to keep the visual continuity of all of them.
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The longitudinal itinerary of processes happening in the winey is drawing the thin and long shape of the building. The conclusion of the paths is the existing building where a shop and a wine bar is placed, together with the stockage.
1 floor plan
2 view of the two buildings
3 diagram of pahses
4 section
Part 1.12 works and competitions
La Vinsantaia.
Wine bar and shop of Capezzana status where year
Mdu architetti commission Lucca, Italy June-July 2012
team role
Mdu Architetti, Giulia Caterina Verga
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Concept, branding and interiors
“La Vinsantaia” is located in the centre of the XV century Capezzana hamlet. The building was used just a local shop and has been transformed into a space where visitors and guest can arrived and enjoy the landscape, food and wine produced locally. The space has been designed accoring to the available fornitures
SALA 2 TETTOIA
L’arredamento è stato concepito valorizzando oggetti e mobili trovati nella Tenuta di Capezzana, dandogli una nuova vita in questa attività. Cercando nelle soffitte abbiamo trovato bei tavoli di legno, sedie di ogni sorta, quadri, stampe, fotografie storiche e molte altro. Ne risulta un ambiente caldo e familiare, in cui ogni angolo regala immagini diverse: ci sono tavolate da dodici persone, da quattro o da due, abbiamo un divano per i dopocena e degli sgabelli per l’aperitivo; inoltre, per le giornate di sole, abbiamo allestito una parte
SALA 1
VINSANTAIA
doccia
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VIN
bagno personale
ZONA ATTREZZATA COPERTI
antibagno
CUCINA
spogliatoio personale
BANCONE
bagno
ESPOSIZIONE
MAGAZZINO
LAVAGGIO
parti aperte al pubblico del wine cafe ingressi e passaggi rampe per livellare i pavimenti per chi ha difficolta motorie (5/8 % di pendenza) parti aperte al pubblico del wine cafe
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1-2 photos of the location
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3 existing plan
4 schematic plan of the new intervention
5 interiors
5 web site
Part 1.13
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works and competitions
120 euros house. Interiors for a temporary house status where year team role
Commission Delft, Netherlands September 2011 Giammaria Quarta, Aniol Lopez, Giulia Caterina Verga Concept, design and assemblage
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Three flatmates, a low budget, one big room where to live and sleep. The traditional wooden arches of the roof holding beams in the middle of the space inspired the solution of suspended beds flying above the living room. The bed structures had been laid on the beams and tightened with ropes, afterwards other interior elements could hang from both the bed and the roof structures, such as the lights, plants and the rope of the wardrobe.
beds: 65 euros sofa: 25 euros chairs: 10 euros lights: 10 euros wardrobe: 10 euro
The large room has found two layers, one for the living and one for the sleeping; a removable stair is used to reach the second level. The total cost of these intervention has been 120 euros, the budget the students were willing to pay for the arrangement.
1 suspended beds
2 living room under
3 diagrams
Part 1.14 works and competitions
Red shoes hotel. Drawings from memories status where year team role
Contribution to the artistic project by Lisa Spilliaert Leauven, Belgium May 2013 Lisa and Clara Spilliaert, Giulia Caterina Verga Drawing floor plans from the artist’s memories
There’s a well known Japanise song that inspired this project. This song gave the name to an hotel in Tokyo where the two artists, Lisa and Clara Spillaert, have been years ago. The evocative song has been used to creat a stream of memories realted to such hotel. What I have been asked to do is use those words and few pictures to give an architectural representation of the hotel hall and some of the rooms. After this work interesting question have been raised for the role of the architect. What is an architecture of a memory? Which are the architectural tool that can represent it? How can standardize dimentions of fornitures and elements help rebuilding a plausible existing space? Which is are the scales of the details perceived? Which would be the empty volume of a hotel room? From the artist’s description: “a girl wearing red shoes accompanies a blue-eyed man to his far-away country and departs from Yokohama pier, one of the oldest seaports near Tokyo frequented by international vessels. This old nostalgic song dates back to 1922 and is popularly known as ‘The Girl with the Red Shoes’. Nearby our parents’ house in Japan is a hotel – one of the many ‘love hotels’ in Tokyo – bearing the same name as this song. Both the name and the appearance of this hotel reflect the distinct nostalgic atmosphere and exotic nature of this story. There is a peculiar contrast between this rather bland residential area and the hotel constructed of fake bricks featuring all kinds of European ornaments that used to leave an even stronger impression on us half-Belgian sisters living in Tokyo. This project consists of our personal archives about this hotel with the film representing our new interpretation of the song. With the red shoes serving as a metaphorical red thread, this fixed spot becomes impregnated with the mutual desires between Japan and Belgium that drive us.”
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1 working page where dimensions of elements indicated in the memories build the dimension of the space
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2 empty rooms spaces
3 images of the hotel gathered
Part 1.15
Part 2
works and competitions
index
university works
1 status where year team role
!st year architectural design studio University of Florence, Italy June 2012 prof. Valerio Barberis, Eugenio Salvetti, Elisa Brunetti, Giulia Caterina Verga Professor assistant during a 3 weeks workshop
2 status where year team role
Competition for an “instant house� Milan, Italy december 2009 GGiulia Caterina Verga Concept and design for a modular self-constructing house
Bachelor thesis River Library *2009
MasterThesis XS metropolis *2012 1
2.1 Design studio *2007
2.2 Building technology *2011
2.4 Design studio *2008
2.5 other works *2005-2011
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Design studio *2011
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2.3 Design studio *2010
2.6
Part 2.1
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university works
XS Metropolis.
Strategy for the development of local mobility environments in the Rotterdam-The Hague metropolitan region: the Rotterdam Zuid neighborhood as a study case.
status where year team
Master Thesis, Politecnico of Milan and TU Delft Rotterdam,Netherlands September 2011-April 2012 Gianmaria Quarta, Giulia Caterina Verga superisors Roberto Cavallo, Marcelo Sancez, Antonella Contin
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This work is about new possible ways and means of approaching the theme of infrastructure-based urban developments in the Dutch metropolitan area known as the Southwing, which includes the cities of The Hague, Delft, Rotterdam and Dordrecht. Starting with a long and intense period of research and analysis framed within the Hybrid Buildings Studio at TU Delft, we’ve put the basis for a deep questioning about the future of local train stations and their environments. We set our strategy following a double approach, raising from two different conditions of the metropolitan context: first, we considered the existing rail infrastructure as a key element to fully develop the potential of a metropolis made of different networked cities; second, we assumed that, while the common trend is to focus economic and intellectual resources on central nodes of transport and highspeed trains, a new role has to be found for secondary local stations, both to enhance the synergy between them on the larger scale, and to improve the quality of local contexts without losing the opportunities given by local specificities. According to these principles, our strategy proposes a metropolitan network of temporary housing to be set in these secondary nodes, and at the same time to intervene in the local contexts by providing site-specific architectural interventions on public space. In a long-term perspective, these open-ended interventions aim to confirm the vocation of the Southwing as an international “BrainPort� while setting the basis for the re-balancing of urban centralities, and give local communities the chance to build their own specific role in the metropolitan network.
1 XL conncetions in the country
2 large metropolitan areas
3 The Hauge-Rotterdam-Dodrecht metropolitan area
4 mobility scales
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5 the matrix of the railway line (connections, buildings, public space, functions)
6 “low frequencies� station environments
7 strategies
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8 Nolli map of Rotterdam Zuid neighbourhood
9 Neighbourhood analysis
10 Patterns analysis
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11 Frames of the three routes analysed
12 the manifesto
13 The routes of interventions
14 Activities of the area
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15 three sections of three different interventions fot the 1st route
16 Public space interventions of the 2nd route
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17 street elevation of the 3rd route
18 station interventionn plan
19 station section
20 3rd route floorplan
21 3rd route section
Part 2.2 university works
River Library of Florence
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status where year team
BachelorThesis, University of Florence Florence, Italy September 2011-April 2012 Gianmaria Quarta, Giulia Caterina Verga superisors Valerio Barberis, Claudio Zanirato 3
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The area of the intervetion has been taken as a starting point of the project: the earth modulation reaching steeply the river together with the high trees scattered on the plot. This is one of the few green areas on the river Arno and it is one of the only that puts in direct contact the city of Florence with its river. Therefore the building has been thought as a floating element, that can emerge form the natural elements and eventually “be woven“ through them. The balance in between the natural system and the need for a structures, able to solve the questions of accessibility and livability of the site, has produced a concept focused on pathways. These half suspended crossing paths create a continuous public space, with slopes, squares and panoramapoints, that bring the visitors from the street level towards the river. The library is a part of such pathway, where three levels cross and create a volume. 5
1 site plan
2 concept images
3 3d model
4 section
5 entrance view
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6 strctural principles
7 technology
8 energetic principles
9 floorplans and distribution
10-11 views from the river
Part 2.3
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university works
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University campus.
Hybrid building for the University of Amsterdam status where year course
Design Studio, TU Delft Amsterdam, Netherlands January- June 2011 Hybrid building studio
The design approach focuses on the challenge of creating a “common platform” that could join the existing university campus with the empty area around. The analysis of the characteristics of the area led the design itself toward a “ground scraper” able to put into light the natural qualities of the context. The approach from an urban point of view matches the theories developed on hybrid building theme and, therefore, shapes as well the following architectural approach. The green platform is actually connecting every functional part of the building, it engages the natural elements and becomes the main theme of the design. Starting from the concept of bringing a new element inside the UvA campus, the green platform actually turns into a landscape itself. When this element takes off the ground it leaves space for public functions related to the city such as restaurants, coffee bars and shops. The first level -the “landscape” level- is then dedicated to the UvA, the green elements is hosting the study landscape and distributes all the main functions related to the conference hub. The three cubes accomodates the three main specific functions: the hotel, the auditorium and the 4 smaller theatres and offices. The building is composed by the integration of these two systems: the “monoliths” and the “platform”. As they should respond to different functions their design is radically different: the three monoliths are defined as simple forms, based on the mere functions they have to accommodate. Their design is clearly readable in the floor plans as well as in the sections: they can be identified as close “boxes” enclosed in thick walls. On the other hand, what is designed to capture the attention and shape the urban interaction with the surrounding, is the platform. This platform turns into a green element as it develops its identity from the natural green strip of grass and trees along the east canal.
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1 diagrams
2 concept images
3 floorplans
4 views
5 elevation
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6 functional and structural diagrams
7 energetic principles
8 sections
9 view
10 materialization
11 technology
12-13 floorplan of the platform
Part 2.4 university works
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Staircase house.
Temporary residence for an artist. status where year team
Design studio, University of Florence Florence, Italy September 2007 Giulia Caterina Verga superisors Valerio Barberis
The design was conceived strating from a common volume 6 x 6 x 6 x 18. The site was crossed by a small river and the three volumes were placed around it, so that three different approaches were developed around the theme of water. The volume I designed was the in between one, inclined and inserted in both other parallelepipeds. The space designed was inspired by the inclination itself, in fact the whole space turns into a giant stair, where floors come out and almost jump in the totalizing space.
1 site diagrams
2 floorplans
3 views
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Part 2.5
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university works
Dwellings along the lake 3
status where year team
Design studio, Politecnico di Milano Milan, Italy January-June 2010
supervisor Paolo Caputo, Lorenzo degli Esposti
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The design studio was focused on the urban setting of new residential areas. The dwelling building here is just a part of the studio and has been based on the social and energetic sustainability. The in between space created by the brise soleil is the technological and volumetric solution for the definition of this building: it becomes a sort of light coat that plays in different ways according to the relation with the street first, becoming a long inclined bench, then with the facade, articulating as a proper brise soleil, until the roof, when it becomes inclination and structure for the solar panels. The dwelling structure was studied in terms of social mixitè and modular diversification, a double ventilation is present in every unit, according to the presence in the site of the wind from the near by water that, in this way, is not stopped by the building itself, taken as an advantage as flux in the dwellings.
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1 view of the brise space
2 design diagram
3 energetic principles
4 floorplans
5 units combination
6 section
Part 2.6 university works
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Dwellings block status where year team
Technology design studio, Politecnico of Milan Milan, Italy September-December 2011 Silvia SIracusano, Marina Mandozzi, Giulia Caterina Verga
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The design approach focuses on the energetic and technological solutions for the residential building. The building is composed by common areas like the stair cases and private apartments; as they respond to different functions their design is differenciated but yet, they both should work together from the energetic point of view . The solutions are visible in the sections, a large chimney-like vertical glaze corridor for the stair case, able to accumulate heat to distribute in the dwellings. The units structure variates according to a grid, able to host three different sizes. The living rooms are all south-east oriented, for a better energy efficiency; a double faced for every living room is composed by both a green houses-like room and a balcony.
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1 // energetic section
2 // floorplan (executive)
3 // facade
4 // view
5 // axonometric section
6 // diagrams of dwellings units
Part 2.7 university works
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Park pavillions status where year team
Design studio, University of Florence Florence Italy January-June 2008 Giulia Caterina Verga
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The design for a museum in the park has been here intended as a scattered pavilions assemblage, integrating the museum itinerary with the park itself. The volumes suggest instability and openness, the crystal box hosting the different functions is surrounded by green petal-shape structures. The transparency and the different levels of connection with the park is mediated by the open air but covered part of the shell around the pavilion.
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1 // roof plan
2 // section
3 // existing structures
4 // views of the exterior
5 // floor plans: ticket office/exhibition space/cafe bookshop
6 // interiors
portfolio 2014
giuliacaterinaverga@gmail.com +32 488 594 193