ALBERTO GEUNA
STUDENT PROJECTS 2010 - 2013
INDEX 1 - hanging gardens 2 - floating Boxes 3 - lavascape 4 - inner realm 5 - kigali XL 6 - kigali S 7 - har vest map - Ostkreuz 8 - reclaiming heritage - L’A quila 9 - dr. Schreber’s universal remedy 10 - learning from PREVI
1 project: hanging gardens theme: superelevation of an existing building typology: temporar y residence for commuters location: Torino, Italy tutors: M.Ber ta Politecnico di Torino year: 2010 The block is located next to Turin’s new central station and will be transformed into temporar y housing for commuters. The building - a former primar y school from the early XX centur y - is maintained and expanded with a light steel construction that progressively vanishes toward the sky. The ground floor and the mezzanine host shops and offices, while the inner cour tyard is freely accessible from the outside. The roof is a continuous terrace that can par tially turn into a greenhouse throughout winter.
plan, facade, section 0
5
20
ground floor plan 0
5
20
2 1
3
5
3
1 3
3
3 1
1_shops+offices 2_reception
4 3
3_residence 4_apar tments
3
5_commonspace 3 3 4
5 3
3
5 3
3
3
2 project: floating boxes theme: renovation of a urban block typology: residence for ar tists + galler y + housing location: Torino, Italy tutors: A.Baietto,C.Cur ti Politecnico di Torino Year: 2011 The block’s feature is its mixed use: small factories and houses coexist on a small plot. Having lost its original function, the old industrial building becomes a new residence for ar tists. Apar tments and studios are hanging from the existing structure like floating boxes, leaving the ground floor completely open. The former cour tyard, now freely accessible, turns into a public space with direct access to the new ar t galler y. The intimacy of this space is enhanced by the new apar tment building on the riverside.
site plan 0
5
20
apartments
structural beams
apartments and workshops
art gallery
existing structural frame
public space
plans 0
5
25
0
1
a
a’
facade - east 0
2
10
apar tment 90 sm
apar tment 60 sm studio 75 sm
common area 40 mq
studio 75 sm
2
3
section aa’ 0
1
5
apartment
apartment
studio
exhibition space
common space
studio
the balcony allows to obser ve the middle space from different levels, but it also increases the accessibility of wall surface for pictures
the structure allows the inser tion of mobile par titions inside the main space
the exhibition space is structured around a double height area that can contain big sculptures and installations.
plans 0
1
2,5
3 project: lavascape theme: landscape representation typology: workshop, research location: Catania, Italy tutors: L. Cantarella - Landform T. La Rocca - UniversitĂ di Palermo year: 2011 This workshop was a week - long exploration of the city of Catania and its surroundings, using photography and drawing as tools to enhance understanding and knowledge. The focus of the research was the relationship bet ween the city and the nearby volcano (Etna). My theme was the coastline, which constitutes of black magmatic stones. I mapped the area and focused on cer tain specific locations that I considered to be peculiarly relevant, on which I tried to enhance the t wo medias as new representational forms.
The section represents temporar y structures that are erected during the summer to allow residents to use the seaside without being bothered by the uncomfor table magmatic rocks.
The for tress of Acicastello is one of the most impressive landmarks of Catania’s riviera. At the base of the rock magmatic rocks form a plain that gets flooded t wice a day.
4 project: inner realm theme: renovation of an urban block typology: multifunctional / education location: Torino, Italy tutors: G.Ambrosini, G.Callegari Politecnico di Torino year: 2012 The new development relates to the new UniversitĂ di Torino building by Foster and Par tners. Our proposal offers intimate space to the students and new ser vices to the inhabitants of the surrounding nieghborhood, while connecting the campus with the nor thern side of the river. The different functions are linked through the cour tyard on the ground floor -the “inner realmâ€?- and through the terraced roof. The librar y is designed so to provide a variety of smaller areas rather than a big central space.
plans 0
2
1
0
5
20
3
4
plans 0
10
40
1 2
1
2
3
4
section librar y
through
the
Daylight factor inside the librar y
Study rooms
wall stratigraphies
detail
construction scheme with structural wood panels - axonometr y and list of components
5 project: Kigali L theme: urban design typology: urban space + housing + mosque location: Kigali, Rwanda tutors: P.A.Croset, A.Sampieri Politecnico di Torino year: 2012 The slum of Bir yogo is facing imminent transformation due to the construction of a new highway and other related infrastructures. The project faces the issue of modernization, tr ying to mediate bet ween investors and inhabitants, cicatrizing the wound of the new infrastructure. A new platform is built along the highway, hosting a mall, a cinema and parking lots in the lower levels, as well as housing and a square on the upper floors. The soon tobe-demolished mosque is replaced by a new complex, which provides both religious and social ser vices.
Existing situation
Highway
Cicatrize
Flats
Flats Flats Flats Flats Flats Flats Flats
OFFICES MALL
1
CINEMA
Houses MALL
2
CINEMA
Flats Flats Flats Flats Flats Flats Flats Flats
Marketplace
PARKING PARKING
3
4
1
2
3
4
PARKING PARKING
An open-air canal is causing continuous damage to the surroundings. Its flooded area turns into a large pedestrian path with terraces and trees. This space is available for agriculture.
After the highway, the path culminates into a steep stair that brings to the upper plateau.
The coexistence of low- and high- rise provokes a direct confrontation bet ween t wo different lifestyles.
1
The mosque constitutes of different buildings. It hosts the cell, a coranic school, public toilets and shaded space. The trees provide fruits as a form of suppor t for the neighborhood, while rainwater is purified and collected in three tanks (1, 2, 3).
2
3
6 project: Kigali S theme: self-construction workshop typology: retaining structures + street furniture location: Cumiana, Italy / Kigali, Rwanda tutors: S.Pagliolico - PoliTO, Sermig year: 2012 The slums of Kigali - capital city of Rwanda struggle due to precarious maintenance of soil. This workshop aimed at solving the problem while simultaneously improving the quality of urban space. Each group was assigned a specific material: our one was pallets. We designed a flexible module that could be easily built and used for different pur poses. We thought of stairs, benches and retaining walls, but the combinations could be many more according to specific needs. A manual of self-constrction was then printed and sent to a local NGO in Kigali.
7 project: Har vest map - Ostkreuz theme: resource mapping typology: urbanism location: Berlin tutors: R. D’A lencon TU Berlin year: 2012 This research focuses on preparing an urban inter vention based on the disponibility of local resources rather than on abstract design principles. The exercise consisted in an urban exploration that covered t wo different radiuses around a possible project location. Resources are cathegorized in unused plots, activities, unused buildings and infrastructure and unused materials.
8 project: reclaiming heritage - L’A quila theme: urban planning typology: after-ear thquake reconstruction strategy location: Tussillo (AQ) - Italy tutors: R. D’A lencon - TU Berlin year: 2013 In 2009 the city of l’A quila and its surroundings were striken by a powerful ear thquake. Tussillo is a small village in the mountains that faced a massive demographical crisis even before the cataclysm, when only 72 people lived there. The town is now uninhabited and its for mer occupants reside in prefab houses in the nearbies. We inter viewed several of these people and tried to understand their needs and aspirations, while investigating the state of buildings in the old town. People liked to live in the old village but admitted they feel more comfor table in the new settlement (they are mostly elderly folks). We thus designed a path to ease the connection bet ween the old village and the new settlement. Considering social and economical factors, a total reconstruction of the village is impossible and counter productive. We thought a sor t of historical DNA could be preser ved on the buildings surrounding the path, allowing fur ther development in any scenario. The idea is par tial preser vation and consolidation, like in Ungers’ Green Archipelago.
figure ground plan
streets and paths
pedestrians cars
proper ty
private property public property cancelled property deceased no document
photographs
The project included improval of public space. I worked on the central square, in front of the church. Gabions, filled with debrees, turn the previous slope in terraces, allowing different comfor tably accessible seats toward the valley. A new building - realized with reclaimed materials - hosts a restaurant with a view, while an unfinished concrete structure is turned into a guesthouse. Restaurant - facade from the valley side
Restaurant - section toward the valley
9 project: dr. Schreber’s universal remedy theme: housing and gardening typology: research, urbanism location: Berlin, Germany tutors: J. P. Vassal (UdK Berlin) year: 2013 Schrebergar ten - or allotments - are a common sight throughout Germany. In Berlin they cover 3% of the city’s surface, providing more than 200’000 inhabitants with fresh air and green. The research focuses on this strange typology, analyzing its for m, histor y, pros and cons. The final proposal is a radical transfor mation of such spaces - which is clearly challenging and utopic - that might help looking at these objects and phenomena from different points of view. Moritz Schreber (1808 - 1861) was a physician and professor at the University of Leipzig. His studies focused on the effect of industrialization on people’s heath (Volksgesundheit) and children’s health. He proposed remedial exercises for sedentar y lifestyles and was the founder of the eponymous Schreber movement. Due to his disturbing use of machiner y to improve human behaviour - he invented, among others, a machine to prevent from masturbation -, he is now regarded as a poisonous pedagogist. The first Schrebergar ten community was founded in Leipzig by Ernst Innozenz Hauschild (1808 - 1866), a disciple of Schreber’s theories. The allotments grew viral from that moment on an now they are a relevant typology in any German city. The map below shows the extent of the gardens in Neukölln compared to the surface of Tempelhof airfield. The Anlage is the urban system that contains the single Schrebergar ten. The shape of these conglomerations is all but casual, and it recalls some kind of urban organization on a smaller scale. Urban devices include narrow entrances, Gasthäuser, public toilets and paths.
Hut
Garden
Fence
Schrebergar tensanlage
FEATURES
Community
Shelter
Products
Displacement Nature Permeability Privacy
Density ISSUES
In order to develop the idea I schematized the typology
The height limit for construction is removed, while people are allowed to move into their gardens and inhabit them per manently. The surface occupied by buildings is still the same, but the huts grow until they reach the 4th floor, like Japanese townhouses.
Bringing the idea to the extreme: the 5th floor constitutes of a road that allows access to the upper and lower levels, while connecting different huts. Each Laube is now an apar tment building with 24 m 2 footprint.
10 project: learning from PREVI theme: growing houses, open form typology: housing, research location: Berlin, Germany tutors: J. P. Vassal (UdK Berlin) year: 2013 This research was par t of the previous project on Schrebergar ten, but was discarded as inappropriate for the specific context. It is an exploration on the theme of open for m and a way to reinter pret the meaning of housing. The cultural basis of the project is PREVI, a residential development for barriadas around the city of Lima, Peru. The houses are organized in rows, with a double access from the garden and from the alley. The light construction system allows self-help.
150 bedrooms
plans - growing phases 0 1
1
2
3
5
30 bedrooms
60 bedrooms
4
180 bedrooms
5
alberto geuna alber to.geuna@gmail.com