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projects overview
This years task is to reflect on the specific conditions of the valley and to design a proposal for four different sites. Each proposal should act on many levels and include various facettes. The focus lies on understanding typologies of spaces for the community, how they were used in the past, how they are used now and what we could contribute with our designs how the people can live together in the future. We aim for a critical understanding of the transformation of historical places in order to tackle the question: What is common space nowadays? The interaction and exchange of knowledge between the groups working on the different sites should create a fragmentary, but connected vision for the Blenio valley and its future. The four sites work on different scales and each of them follow a different time-line of realization:
00. Sallo
- A small public space with a fountain, that the last year’s Summer School designed and got realized over the year in collaboration with the municipality of Blenio. Today the new fountain creates a beautiful spot and will be officially inaugurated on the 15th September 2022.
01. Torre
- A medium scale open space in between protected buildings of high patrimonial value such as the church of Santo Stefano, Villa Lina and the Pagani tomb. We already worked last year on the design and will develop the design more detailed in this year’s edition.
02. Olivone
- A large to small scale project which include an analysis of the sourroundings of the school area in order to propose appropriated small scale interventions that will be carried out in the future with the local authorities.
3. Acquarossa
- A medium scale proposal for the reuse of the old Hospital building and its immediate surroundings. Thoughts about program change, the building should be transformed into co-housing, will need to be justified by a reflection on a territorial scale as well as on the evaluation of other community needs. A special attention goes to the idea of sustainability that works on different levels.
04. Malvaglia
- A large to small scale project. Make a territorial proposal for the valorisation of the historical Torchi path between Ludiano and Semione. The small scale focus will be tackled through a hands-on conservation project on one of those vernacular typologies.
PLEASE THINK ABOUT THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS AND REMARKS
- What makes your design proposal specific to the location, what is the strong identity, what are the characteristics given by the site and created by the design? - Longterm development (there is no economic pressure for short-term development), make phasing possible, step by step development. - How does your scenario change over time (day to night, seasons, years)? - Is the project self-sufficient or is there additional infrastructure needed to make the scenario work well? - For whom are you designing/not designing? (We don’t want to think of housing for commuters and don’t want to go in to the direction of leisure and tourism) - Is your scenario integrating the idea of social exchange, mixed use, alternative way of uses? How do you combine public and private? - Can your scenario stay within the borders of the existing building regulation, is it possible to densify on the plot?
DESIGN IN COLLABORATION
There are many different aspects to design. The large group of students will divide into different small groups for a specialization. The ideas and results of the small groups will later be exchanged and brought together to one design project. It is important that the vision for the whole doesn’t get lost on the way. Try to think the small scale intervention in a creative way as a big scale urban development and vice versa. Social sustainability should be achieved through spatial design and program. Ideally each proposal creates new meaning not only for itself, but for the community comming together in these spaces.
