THE UNFINISHED

In The SoIl of TrebISacce

Politecnico Di Milano Scuola Di Architettura Urbanistica Ingegneria Delle Costruzioni Architecture And Urban Design

THEMATIC STUDIO - THE ISTHMIC WAY 09. 2022 - 01. 2023

Trebisacce, Calabria, Italia.

Unfinished architecture is uninhabited that can not be called abandoned since it has never been physically completed and has never served in such a finalized state according to its initial function to be deserted afterwards. And on the other hand, even if the unfinished building is free in sense of occupation, it is barely to determine it as vacant, because of the uncompleted physical condition of the building which prevents it from being utilized accordingly to its primary feature.

Although an unfinished project is not physically fully realized. Its existing space and form potentially provide frames for an activity that is not necessarily connected with its initial function. Since an action may not be coherent with the original plan linked with unfinished structure, it can have temporary character. At the same time, it gives a possibility for transformation and adaption of uncompleted object.

There is a distinction between public and private unfinished projects which lies in transparency of their origins and within a potentiality of reuse. The reasons of why public projects are not entirely realised are available, widespread and at the same time there is an opportunity to prompt ideas for their possible usage. In case of private projects, owner’s motives for their noncompletion and ability to use again are not known openly.

The enormous number of incomplete housing skeletons in Calabria is a notable aspect of the unfinished projects there. They can merely resemble columns made of steel bars or ones made of nearly finished plaster. In spite of this, it appears that life is still present in these abandoned areas. Eventually, those spaces are used for food preservation, and kids frequently find enjoyment in them as well.

These homes are often constructed in the last century during the 1970s and 1980s with the expectation that young adolescents will live in them. In the midst of this major issue in the South, young people frequently have to make the painful and tough decision of whether to stay or leave. Those unfinished homes, left behind, stand in for the final decisions made by the young people.