"Patchwork Palermo", urban project paper, 08/09

2009

Laboratorio 4 di Progettazione Arch. – Prf. De Simone

Stud. Arch. Gheorghiu Octavian, Alina Marin, Luis Silva – 2008/2009 Universita Degli Studi di Palermo – Facolta di Architettura 3/20/2009

[What is Monreale?]

Monreale is a small town in the proximity of the city Palermo. It is part of the commune of Palermo, and is directly linked with the city, historically and physically. The town along with the other Palermo landmarks, such as Quattro Canti and Monte St. Pellegrino creates what is the image of Palermo.

Monreale is one of the main tourist attractions, and is part of the “must” city tour. It`s main feature is The Cathedral, but the city is also famous for it`s unique mosaics and one‐of‐a‐kind feeling that you can get by visiting the small and narrow streets that are packed with surprises such as small churches and restaurants. The fact that the town is on a mountain slope makes it a particular walk because the image of the place is constantly changing, and as you explore it you are naturally guided by the streets which open up to small piazza`s.

The history of this Baroque town is unique. A small analysis can show the way that this town grew. It`s growth is similar to a patchwork, new buildings stack on top of old ones, or are added to the old in a naturally ever building tissue that has become today Monreale. The natural flow of the tissue is comes from a long and continuous transformation.

However even though this small town seems to have it all, the reality is much more different. The lack of more interest points makes the tourists and the townspeople search for them outside the Monrealist area. There is not much to do after the one hour walk and half an hour tour of the cathedral for the tourist, and the restaurants are to be found only by the few who are curious to adventure deep in the Monreale tissue. The center does not have in it`s proximity much to offer and this leads to failure in keeping people in the town.

So what can a small change do? Can it change the fact that the center of Monreale does not offer too much? Can it make tourists and townspeople alike stay inside the town?

Can it go even further by bringing also to Monreale some of the Palermitans? Can a small change at a micro scale influence the town at a macro scale? Why not with one intervention change the bigger scale? Can our intervention be the starting point of future development of Monreale? To all this questions we have only one answer : We believe it can!

Universita Degli Studi di Palermo – Facolta di Architettura

[Patchwork Monreale – Architecture beyond building]

The idea behind our project came from a series of analysis of what is Monreale. Looking at the morphology of the town, one could only have made an intervention similar to the development of what today is the image of the place. Because the evolution of Monreale is like a constant patchwork it seems natural to have our project work the same way. Looking at the plans of the town some series of questions were made…

1.Why in the proximity of the only two piazza`s near the Cathedral is a free open space not used, that can be connected with the existent squares …

2.Why is one of the few belle views of the city used as a parking lot, who is also near the Cathedral and is the first image that a tourist has (not to be said that is a doubtful image for a man to see )…

3.Why is there a garden that is part of the Cathedral that is closed and holds instead of plants garbage, and why it`s not part of the tour…

After some visits to see the area we had our answers and solutions laid in front of us by the place that seemed to talk back to us saying what it needs. The idea of patch working naturally came to us….

1.Why not take the free unused space next to the two piazza`s and next to the Cathedral and make it an expression of what Monreale is, by making a Museum of Monreale, and a series of shops where you can buy mosaics and also make them. This new piazza we would dedicate to the Image of Monreale. The museum would be a tower which would become a landmark for this new piazza.

2.Why not make the parking lot a new space for the tourists and also for monrealists and palermitans. But how can you achieve that? By making instead of the parking lot an open space which looks at the belle view and putting the parking space beneath you get a new working area. In this new space we would put a series of small bars and a restaurant/club which during the day would serve tourist and during the night would recreate the Candelai phenomenon (Candelai is a place in Palermo where at a point some bars were build and in time it naturally became one of the points where people gather for drinks and eating, and the beauty of Candelai is that is busy all week long ) . Also in this new open space a tower would be made as a landmark also, and in this tower during the night there can be projections of movies and music by dj`s.

This new space would be dedicated to the image of Sicily, and in particularly Monreale and Palermo.

3.Why not make the garden a manifest place, where the youth of Monreale would have a place to go during the day and night, a new garden with a new experimental theater and its workshops. The theater and the workshops would be an incision in the existent tall wall. This new place would be a meeting point where tourists could encounter townspeople and would be a place of exchanging cultures, a new place for the youth image. This new garden and its theatre would be the image of a new manifest in which people could meet and exchange cultures and also develop them. The garden would have the pavement as a patchwork designed to be the abstracting of the tissue of Monreale.

The only big problem would be how to connect this three new places between them and also with the Cathedral and the two piazza`s that already exist. The design of this connection also came from the same idea of taking the tissue of Monreale and abstracting it. The connection would become a place where you would have different views of the place as each level offers a new image.

Universita Degli Studi di Palermo – Facolta di Architettura

The problem of parking space would be solved by making a new parking lot which would be connected with the new spaces by a funicular and a shuttle that would also make the same connection, offering a different view as you could at the arrival take the funicular, and at the departure the shuttle.

Universita Degli Studi di Palermo – Facolta di Architettura

[Modules‐ Relations] Alvéole 14, Saint Nazaire The project presented in the modules that influenced us most in the vision on our work was the transformation of Alveole 14 from the U‐Boot‐Bunkers in Saint Nazaire. The reconversion of this space in a multivalent, modern, artistic centre has increased the awareness and tourism rate of St. Nazaire and made us think something similar could be done for Monreale as well.

This became from a small, minimalistic intervention, a point of interest for the whole area at least two nights every week, on a regular basis, and once a year for a large international event. It might seem like a small change in an area that has been isolated and destructed for such a long time but it brings a big change in the overall perception of this small French city.

The project regards the transformation and restructuring of three cells at the submarine base in Saint‐Nazaire into two event halls: VIP – “Venue for contemporary music (Scène de Musiques Actuelles)” and LiFE – “International centre for emerging art forms (Lieu international des Formes Emergentes)” and one public space.

The team of architects LIN, Finn Geipel + Giulia Andi, redesigned three cells at the submarine base in Saint‐Nazaire, France, were transformed and restructured into two event halls: one for contemporary music and second as a centre for emerging art forms. The project consists of two elements: LiFE and VIP . The street traversing the entire base creates interaction between the bunker cells.

The hall for the international centre for emerging art forms ( LiFE ) is a minimalistically equipped “Monospace”. It is situated in a former submarine basin and can be opened up towards the harbor through a large, retractable gate. VIP, a “venue for contemporary music”, occupies one of the volumes inside the bunker. A hall for 600 people was created in a simple cubic space enclosed by a steel frame, which also contains a bar, a balcony, and an archive.

Starting from what we found out in the modules and trying to gather as much information as we could, we came to the conclusion that something just as interesting could be done in Monreale as well, at least as a point of interest for its citizens and for the citizens of Palermo. This is how we decided to step aside from the idea of making all our intervention for the tourists who come to visit the cathedral, and dedicate some of it to the cultural and social life of the people living in the area. The result comes in the form of an experimental theatre that was missing in the cultural life of the city and some spaces determined to enhance the nightlife of the young people living in Palermo or Monreale. Four workshop areas accompany the theatre to ensure that there is space for lessons or practice of whatever form of art might take place in the multivalent, multipurpose areas of the theatre. A club and some bars, along with a Dj tower define an open air space that can be used in the traditional Sicilian way as a social gathering area, with a splendid view over the mountains, the sea and the city of Palermo. Due to the fact that the facilities serve here as cafés during the day and bars at night, again, in the traditional Sicilian style, this ensures a certain flux of people all day long, as well as nice spaces for the tourists in their way to visiting the city of Monreale.

Universita Degli Studi di Palermo – Facolta di Architettura

Maybe the thing that made most sense in our view of this project was to ensure a realistic, economic approach to this proposal. Finding out that a good artistic space did improve the city life and economy of a little town like St. Nazaire, convinced us that we could hypothetically do the same for Monreale. After all, there is more to this little town then its indisputable cultural value of the cathedral. It’s proximity to Palermo and the physical position it has, with a marvelous view over the mountains and the sea, make it only reasonable to think about developments that could interest palermitans and bring their money to the little commune. And an unconventional theatre, a beautiful restaurant with a unique view and a splendid outdoor space suitable for live music and lighting shows during the night could just do the trick.

Universita Degli Studi di Palermo – Facolta di Architettura

Universita Degli Studi di Palermo – Facolta di Architettura