portfolio 2022 - ENG

LUCA LAURICELLA

italian, born 22/02/1996

WORK EXPERIENCE

Ensamble Studio junior architect

Ensamble Fabrica, Madrid 09-12/2021

Worked on the competition for the renovation of the contemporary wing of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, taking part in the creative process, producing physical and digital models and post-producing the final images

Ensamble Studio junior architect

Ca’n Terra, Menorca 08-09/2021

Worked on the Ca’n Terra project, living alone in the structure under construction, taking responsibility of it and directing the realization of the project

Contributed to the development of the Piedra Rosa project in Pelequén, Chile through the realization of the final project model

Ensamble Studio intern architect

Ensamble Fabrica, Madrid 06-08/2021

Contributed to the evolution of Project One by WoHo Systems by realizing dozens of prefabricated prototypes of walls and façade cladding panels

Ensamble Studio intern architect

Ca’n Terra, Menorca 02-06/2021

Took an active part in the creative process of the Ca’n Terra project, designing and leading the team in the construction of components and furniture

phone: +39 347 3786897 e-mail: lauricella.luca@yahoo.it issuu: issuu.com/luca_lauricella

instagram: @_luca_lauricella

University of Trieste single-cycle master’s degree in architecture mark: 110/110 summa cum laude distinction

EDUCATION LEARNING

introduction to adobe illustrator architectural visualization with collages photoshop for architecture 3D modeling and rendering rehuman - international workshop advanced representation techniques urban geography and GIS thinking architecture - international workshop coffee tales - international workshop digital drawing spaces of light - international workshop

SKILLS

AUTOCAD REVIT SKETCHUP RHINOCEROS

LANGUAGES

ITALIAN ENGLISH SPANISH CHINESE

VRAY PHOTOSHOP ILLUSTRATOR INDESIGN

2015 - 2022 09/2020 08/2020 04-06/2020 02-04/2020 06/2019 03-06/2019 09-12/2018 06/2018 06/2017 09-12/2016 06/2016

(native language) (B2/C1) (B1) (HSK2)

POSTHUMAN LANDSCAPES

Master’s Thesis | prof. Giovanni Fraziano, prof. Thomas Bisiani Text and drawings Luca Lauricella

The fast spread of information and communication technologies and the rise of the digital dimension have a significant impact on society, and this is consequently reflected in the contemporary modus vivendi and the development of urban space. This research aims to explore different possibilities, investigating the transformations already taking place in the perception of urban space and in the way (post)human beings relate to their surroundings. This translates into the study of different models of cities, which are here exaggerated to their dystopian dimension with the aim of describing their limits and understanding the possibilities but also the critical aspects brought by new technologies and their use. Posthuman Landscapes is available on issuu.com/luca_lauricella.

On this page: Panoramic view, eye-level view and plan view of the Meta Utopia

The Meta Utopia is the virtual city. The real world is now deserted and forgotten, as life takes place entirely in a parallel, hyper-connected, frenetic world where everything is possible and immediately available. The Meta Utopia is the dystopian exasperation of virtual life as the ultimate goal, an alternative life that is reduced to a mere illusion, as the city grows out of control without having a clear purpose anymore. Space fragments, urban fabrics fray, physical distances dilate: such spatial redundancy is expressed in changes of scale and accelerations in means of transportation and communication. Physical distance grows daily in favor of virtual proximity, in which everything is immediately accessible, usable and unreal.

On this page: Eye-level view, plan view and panoramic view of the Techno Utopia

The Techno Utopia is the hyper-technological city. Bearing the label of smart city, it is designed solely to amaze visitors and the people all over the world, flaunting the economic and technological possibilities of the nation in which it stands. Its design is decided by default, often in deserted and uninhabited areas, and does not place humans at the center of the design process nor aims to solve the typical problems of urban space or society, but has the sole purpose of becoming the new wonderland. The Techno Utopia is a parasite city: to allow the city center to exist, it endows itself with a large, degraded and forgotten urban sprawl, from which it derives the resources and labor force necessary for its sustenance and from which it separates itself with high walls.

On this page: Panoramic view, plan view and eye-level view of the Eco Utopia

The Eco Utopia is the fake ecological city. Riding the wave of the rise of sustainability intended as a mere trend and not as a real solution to a real problem, it hides its problems under a fake ecological façade, and masks unsustainable structures and operating logics with tree-lined terraces, green roofs and climbing plants. The Eco Utopia does not use ecology as a solution, but as a mask and excuse to justify its own shortcomings. Major architectural interventions nowadays often result in greenwashing operations in which “sustainability” is brought in by greening polluted areas or just covering buildings with vegetation, reducing urban complexity to a dimension in which “nature” can undo complex issues.

The complexity of urban space cannot be reduced to ready-made simplistic schemes. The digital revolution brings significant changes in the perception and use of urban space, but this does not result in the death of real space. Real and virtual spaces coexist and are navigated by humans, whose horizons are not displaced but expanded. This clears the way for the rise of the infosphere, straddling the virtual and the real; space is not dying, but is transforming. Digital and real dimensions interpenetrate each other and create a new spatial dimension, the space of flows, which will be the fertile ground on which tomorrow’s city will rise; flows, relationships, connections are the new raw material with which we will build the new cities, the Posthuman Landscapes.

On the previous page: Posthuman Landscapes explicative diagrams

On this page: The human being

Even the most optimistic vision of the future must inevitably collide with an open world of possibilities. Sometimes predictions lead to dystopian scenarios, while sometimes a deeper vision may unfold to hope for a better future, in which Posthuman Landscapes will actually be designed by humans and will continue to have them as the protagonists. But it is necessary to include uncertainty and chaos in one’s vision in order to contemplate every possible scenario. It is not possible to talk about the future with certainty, but it can be said with a fair amount of firmness that it depends on human beings as the true architects of their own habitat. This introduces a collective responsibility, in which we ourselves can design our own future.

TRANSPORT INTERCHANGE

The project aims to revitalize a marginal area of the city of Gorizia, creating a new urban gate and a reference point for the community. In addition to the redevelopment of the station forecourt, it includes an operation on the former (and now abandoned) streetcar depot of the city and the disused building in front of it. The first building’s perimeter wall and the guardian’s house are preserved, while the complex is converted into an intermodal hub with lounge, reading room, coworking space and bar, equipped with automated parking. The second building (a former unauthorized landfill) is completely redesigned in order to create a center dedicated to slow mobility, with a covered parking for bicycles and the headquarters of a bike delivery company and a bike tours agency.

Integrated Architecture and Building Design | prof. Giovanni Fraziano Design Luca Lauricella, Mascia Collenz, Serena Di Ferro | Images and graphics Luca Lauricella

1. Reorganization of the traffic flow distribution in the station forecourt and introduction of a roof over the new pedestrian area.

2. Conversion of a former unauthorized landfill into a bicycle parking lot and bike delivery and byke tours companies headquarters

3. Redevelopment of the former streetcar depot into an intermodal hub serving commuters and citizens

Intermodal hub (former streetcar depot)

Existing elements: perimeter wall; guardian’s house; rails; Project elements: covered square; automated parking; green shields

2

On the previous page: internal view of the intermodal hub (lounge, reading space, locker); longitudinal section

On this page: views of bicycle parking lot and bike delivery and byke tours companies headquarters

REHABILITATION CENTER

The former (and now abandoned) sanatorium of the city of Gorizia is located in a strategic point on the border between Italy and Slovenia. Although Gorizia and the neighbouring Nova Gorica are both equipped with hospitals, they do not have a post-operative rehabilitation center, which would therefore assume a cross-border character. The project plans to add two new glazed volumes to the existing building, increasing the percentage of public space inside it and linking together areas intended for rehabilitation, hospitalization, residences for visiting family members, or totally open to the public, such as the gym. A third volume with a green roof allows to have a parking lot close to the building without reducing the surface of the parkland, partly intended for outdoor rehabilitation.

Architectural Composition 4 | prof. Pietro Valle Design Luca Lauricella, Mascia Collenz, Serena Di Ferro | Images and graphics Luca Lauricella

Removal of the access ramps in order to free up the parkland space on the south side and to allow a direct view of it

Addition of a side volume dedicated to parking with green roof and two glazed volumes for public spaces

Opening of a new main entrance in order to break the symmetry of the building and make it permeable from both sides of the park

On the previous page: Exploded axonometric view depicting the first and second floor of the building and the outdoor park

On this page: Ground floor plan and crosssection highlighting the public space inside the building

CYRCLES

and graphics Luca Lauricella

The project plans the enhancement of the Cormor river trail, integrating it with the existing system of the Alpe Adria cycle route and identifying a set of cycle paths that form thematic rings, dedicated to the rediscovery of nature and the historical-cultural network and the connection of the university poles distributed throughout the territory. From the intersection of this complexity of systems emerge strategic areas, among which the project area stands out, characterized by the presence of elements linked to ecological, urban, technological and sport-related scenarios. This translates into the design, in the north of the city of Udine, of a multifunctional area dedicated to university, study and work, but also to leisure and nature, encouraging dialogue between different thematic areas.

Urban Planning 2 | prof. Elena Marchigiani Design Luca Lauricella, Mascia Collenz, Serena Di Ferro | Images

technology axis sports axis ecological axis urban axis

DYSTOPIAN

Theory of Design | prof. Giovanni Fraziano Text and drawings Luca Lauricella

What would you do if you woke up in the future? Dystopian is the journey of an ordinary person through the architectural utopias of the sixties, in a world on the border between dream and reality. It is a reflection on the city of the future, on the excessive confidence in technology and the role of the architect in a city that is no longer on a human scale but on a machine scale; the analysis of a dream that if taken to the extreme can turn into a nightmare. Along his path, the protagonist crosses the architectural dreams of 20th century utopians, from Archigram to the metabolist movement, passing through Italian radical utopias, looking for a way out to return to the imperfect world he calls home. Dystopian is available in Italian, English and Spanish on issuu.com/luca_lauricella.

THE LOSS OF SELF

and graphics Luca Lauricella

The project plans the redevelopment of the park of the former asylum of the city of Gorizia, closed thanks to the introduction of the Basaglia law in 1975 and now abandoned. Playing on the contrast between an idyllic bucolic setting and some breaking elements, it wants to investigate what Ervin Goffmann introduced in his work Asylums. This translates into the creation of five pavilions that, placed along an exhibition path, symbolically describe five different total institutions and invite reflection on them. The path culminates in the library (re-functionalisation of a former asylum’s pavilion) which, inspired by the revolutions introduced by Franco Basaglia, becomes the place of assembly and debate, the place where the oppressed finally find again their rights.

Architectural Composition 3 | prof. Giuseppina Scavuzzo Design Luca Lauricella, Mascia Collenz, Serena Di Ferro | Images

1. Pavilion of the non-dangerous incapacitated 2. Pavilion of the dangerous incapacitated 3. Pavilion of the victims of exploitation (see page 27) 4. Pavilion of the conscious dangerous (see page 24) 5. Pavilion of the isolated religious 6. Library of rediscovered rights (see page 27)

The archetypal shape of the house is broken, symbolizing the fact that the victims of total institutions are deprived of their home and find refuge in a surrogate of it, which robs them of all rights and freedoms.

1. Pavilion of the non-dangerous incapacitated: the house is nothing but a skeleton, an illusion

2. Pavilion of the dangerous incapacitated: the illusion of the house walls is associated with the bars of a real prison

3. Pavilion of the victims of exploitation: the house is a precarious sheet metal roof, with too many bed places in a minimum space

4. Pavilion of the conscious dangerous: J. Bentham’s panopticon

5. Pavilion of the isolated religious: a welcoming house, but without exit

On the next page, on the top: Pavilion of the victims of exploitation, render and 1:50 scale model

At the bottom: Library of Rediscovered Rights

THE END OF THE WORLD

History and Technique of Photography | prof. Arianna Novaga Photographs Luca Lauricella

This photographic project wants to tell the failure of megastructural architectural utopia through images that testify the abandonment and the state of degradation in which is found Melara’s Quadrilatero, a residential complex for 2500 inhabitants located on the outskirts of the city of Trieste. The photographs are followed by quotations from Haruki Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, a dystopian novel in which the protagonist finds himself imprisoned in a small, ghostly city separated from the rest of the world by insurmountable walls, where the inhabitants are deprived of shadows and feelings and live away from any emotion. The End of the World is available in Italian, English and Spanish on issuu.com/luca_lauricella.

«Strolling the Hill, one can imagine its former splendor: children playing gaily in the streets, piano music in the air, warm supper scents. Memories feign through scarcely perceived doors of my being.»