The city and the skin

CITIES: SKIN MAKERS Marco Vallario Key words: Urban stratification; Time; History Abstract The skin intended as a “crust� represents the physical ideal of urban stratification over time, a gallery of frozen urban portraits in special envelopes different in shape and size. Thinking of the skin as an architectural shell is nothing more than an allusion to a clear linguistic/formal message and therefore to an interface between container and city, a reference to a precise moment in time. The theme of the wound becomes therefore fundamental, namely where there is a cut in the skin it is possible to see the layering as a compositional image of urban revelation. It becomes a precise point where the naked eye becomes aware of the time that has been and will never be again.

The wound highlights the weight of time that relentlessly burdens the city, becoming a witness in an architectonic as well as historical aspect.

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UC THE CITY AND THE SKIN

The skin as a “crust� represents the physical ideal of urban stratification over time, an infinite succession of urban substrates belonging to previous generations. This crust reflects the architectonic shape and the extinct techniques of former times. The state-of-the-art image of the city is partly compromised by the separation between form and function, that is the link between the community and the physical city. It must be said, however, that cities continue to express an autonomous identity of their own, a jargon, a particular humor, as if each

city possesses an atmosphere or a personal veil; a skin.

This atmosphere, the generic skin of the city, melts within herself in every neighborhood and small village, giving a face to all the streets and alleys, engenders an emotional rather than a geographic map of the urban context.

The city could be thus defined as a gallery of urban portraits frozen within specific shells that vary in shape and size. Thinking of the skin as an architectonic envelope is nothing more than an allusion 359

to a clear linguistic/formal message, and therefore to an interface between city and container, a reference to the possibility of returning to a specific moment in time.

Consequently, the concept of the wound becomes fundamental.

Where there is a cut in the skin it is possible to see the stratification as a compositional image of urban revelation. A precise point where the naked eye becomes aware of the time that has been and will never be again. The wound highlights the weight of time that relentlessly burdens the city, becoming a wit-

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ness in an architectonic as well as historical aspect.

The urban stratification, that is the sedimentation of different cultures, is an inducted autonomous process. The need, the fuel of this powerful engine of which we cannot manage without, is an inexhaustible source of discovery and accumulation.

The skin is a complex component.

What we call skin is really an extremely complex and highly efficient mechanism, especially when referring to the city. In physical terms, in fact, the skin is composed of a se-

UC THE CITY AND THE SKIN ries of tissues. The epidermis, the most exposed part of human skin, is continuously renewed and contains an electrical network of cells that transmit the touch stimuli. The continuous change and growth in both skin and city highlights the close connection between these two topics.

But is it really an autonomous process?

An intervention on the skin directly stimulates a level of intuition and mystery given its condition as a place of boundary. The action of changing this surface belongs without a doubt to the highest form of power available to man, that is the power of creation and modification. A power that generally, precisely because of its strength, comes exclusively from God. Thus the process justifies the transformation as the adaption of form to time.

Biography Marco Vallario, Master of Science in Architecture, Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, Switzerland.

Acknowledgement is made to Antonella Scavone Dominguez, who has translated this paper into English.

Images Captions.

In order of appearance.

All images are by the author.

The skin takes the form of preexistence.

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