Young Visiting Urban Explorer 2021 - Valentine's booklet

Torino Stratosferica & Valentine Letellier YVUE 2021 Exploration of Torino and Ideas

abstract

SUMMARY ABSTRACT p.02

YVUE p.04/5

EXPLORATION - 01. ROUTES p.06/09

EXPLORATION - 02. DAILY PICTURES AND MOODS p.10/17 Turin and placemaking.

Those are the two motivations that led me to collaborate with Torino Stratosferica for 2 weeks in the begining of July 2021. As a Young Visiting Urban Explorer I was willling to bring my energy, reasonnable amout of experience and excessive curiosity to this unknown city of Italy. My work in France didn’t allow me the time to overthink or expect much, as I finished a residency in Rennes and immediatly strated this new Italian adventure. But after three months of online talks, meetings and emails, previous to my arrival, I did grow impatient about discovering what I pictured to be a formerly industrial and evolving Torino... A city almost unnoticed on the European spectrum, laying low in the shadow of its big touristic sisters...

PLACEMAKING PROPOSAL - 01. THREE POSSIBLE LOCATIONS p.18/19

PLACEMAKING PROPOSAL - 02. THE ARTIFACTS GARDEN p.20/35

I am aware that 2 weeks allowed me only to scratch the surface of Torino, but I hope the utopian insights you will find in the next pages can be helful for the future of this beautiful city !

Keep thinking and exploring, Valentine

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Yong visiting urban explorer

I am Valentine Letellier. I was born in France 26 years ago and I lived in Paris all my life except these last years where I moved first to Brussels and then Rennes. I see life as succession of discoveries and reasons to marvel at nature’s best work, while staying lucid on how we, humans, interact with it.

As an architect and urbanist trained quite traditional in Paris, the social and ecological crisis led me to challenge this tradition and look for ways to work in a sensible and ethical way. I’m currently testing new forms of practice with the association I co-founded with 8 other members in 2020, Lost&Find. Between times of research, experimentation and teaching, we work on different locations with the goal of inserting the shaping of environments in conscious ecosystems of resources, situations and people. Our main project takes place on the Island of Groix in the south of Bretagne, around the requalification of an old military fort.

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I enjoy collecting experiences that make my understanding of cities and cultures as wide as possible. That’s why I saw the opportunity of participating in the YVUE program as a great way to discover a Turin and the work of fellow city creators. As I understood it, my mission was to come to Italy and explore Turin during 14 days, looking for opportunities in the city for a placemaking project. To better comprehend the method of Torino Stratosferica, I was also asked during this exploration to visit 10 of the 40 « visions » of Torino Stratosferica and to spend a whole day in the Precollinear park.

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EXPLORATION 01. routes Different routes of exploration around Turin

barriera di milano

sub way rid

e

stop km 14

vanchiglietta

DAY 02 subway ride

PARELLA

start km 0

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In total, I walked 180km in Torino.

It represent walking around the city 10 times.

The routes were different depending on the days, the weather, the different events of the week… Here are 3 examples of full days of explorations.

The routes were planned only with a start and stop point, sometimes with the goal of seeing some of the visions I had to see, but mostly I wandered randomly, Getting lost was the main goal.

I ate, drank many cafés, slept in many parks, tried to speak italian a bit... I discovered Parella, Collegno, Campidoglio, then Lingotto, Mirafiori, San salvario, Borgo Crimea, Then vanchiglia, Barrierra di Milano, Regio Parco, Borgo vittoria etc… I favoured walking of public transport because it leads you more easily to unexpected places. I took only buses or the subway when I had meetings or time imperatives.

During my explorations the goal was to identify interesting spaces.

It depended on many things.

Sometimes I stopped when a space was super alive or on the contrary completely empty...

Abandoned or not... Damaged or not... Used or not... I would pinpoint places that I found interesting on my phone on google maps and then look at it from aerial view back at the studio to study the surroundings and complete my onsite experience with cartography.

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m0 start km 0

borgo vittoria

DAY 04 stop km 9.5

SAN DONATO

borgo vittoria

DAY 05

san salvario

The first week I identified 3 places that I found interesting. Either for their shape, their state, their location, or the opportunities I started to imagine they could bring. There was one site in Parella, one in Lingotto and one in Barriera di Milano. I decided that the second week would be« Exploring with friends » sessions, and return to these places accompanied by people to start discussing what could be done but also to have with me Italian speakers to get a

san salvario

start km 0

barriera di milano

BORGATa rosa-sassi

regio parco

quadrilatero

lingotto

stop km 18

regio parco

barriera di milano

lingotto SAN DONATO

start km 0

stop km 9.5

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EXPLORATION 02. DAILY PICTURES AND MOOD FENCES

ESCAPE

INTERSTICE

ARTIFACTS

01. Exploring on my first day, I went to

02. Since I resided at the limit of Turin and

03. After a short meeting at the Studio

04. Following my exploration of the northern

Stupida Allegria, Funk shui project

Barriera di Milano in the north of Turin.

I found a multitude of housing areas, all more different from one another, but also a great number of «green» spaces, gardens, parks, dog parks, urban agriculture... Almost all of those were enclosed in fences, creating a separation between the park and the city. Those trapped «birds» were one of the first artefacts that crossed my pat, making me wonder who or what that fence was protecting?

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Flowers on the wall, The Slater Brothers

Collegno on Corso Francia during my stay in Torino, I wanted to discover that particularly distant area (from the historical center). I wandered in Parella and walked upon a wasteland where all that remained was one wall but with some new inhabitants. Nature had obviously reclaimed the land and offered an odd alliance between concrete and wild flowers in the middle of this residential area.

911, Damso

Bellissimo, I decided to go and discover Vanchiglietta, the Po and I followed the river towards the north and Regio Parco, ending up Via Sempione. This double road follows and old railway that welcomes today vegetation in its wildest form - at least in an urban context. It’s shape, dug in the ground, reminded me of a river bed and made me wonder if a fifth fiume in Torino was possible?

What’s a Girl to Do, Fatima Yamaha

part of Torino I decided to go south on my fourth day. I started to discover Lingotto at the border of Mirafiori Sud and ended up in an urban park. Without a particularly interesting biodiversity, it hosted, however, strange and intriguing architectures in different points of the park. I wondered all day long what it would take to bring back to life those modern ruins...

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DETOUR

HISTORY

EMPTY

ESCALADE

05. All of Turin should be ridding the tracks,

06. This picture was taken in Collegno in the

07. These two gasometers, stand proud

08. After Piazza Vittorio, going North,

Bye Bye, Lomepal

on their two feets, on the roof of the old Fiat factory! But preferably on a cloudy day... Apart from harsh concrete ground made worst by the lack of shadow, the roof of the mall in Lingotto is a fascinating place. Giving a 360° view of Torino and an opportunity to walk — litteraly — the path of every tested Fiat car, it’s yet another example of how creativity and imagination can give new meaning to places that lost their use.

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Lost in Yesterday, Tame Impala

western suburbs of Turin. I discovered a parc that used to be a Psychiatric hospital. Some buildings are still used as health centers but some became a concert hall, a bar, a restaurant, offices...

The outer barrier was teared down even though you can still see some fragments here and there. It was a very peaceful discovery, where nature, care, history and present, simply get along...

Hold it Down, Riles

in the middle of Vanchiglietta, a very residential neighbourhood. Only the outer structures are still in the air, as the days of gas as a source of energy come ton an end, and its inflammable powers are in any way to dangerous to stay near habitations. What’s next for those structures slowly turning into sculptures and artifacts?

Solsburt hill, Peter Gabriel

halfway between Vanchiglietta and the river lays a path, kept in the shadows by large trees. The Lungo Po Niccolò Machiavelli, is slightly below the level of the city and above the regular path alongside the Po, and I felt like I found an anomaly in the Turinese landscape.

With a rocky materiality and little stairs on one side, this short pathway in the shadow offers silence and cool air to whoever finds it.

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STILL

TO BE CONTINUED

FUTURE ARCHEOLOGY

URBAN ANIMALS

09. Between old infrastructures and new

10. An abandoned construction site is

11. The famous 4 rivers of Torino are

12. Parco Dora is maybe one of my favourite

Bubbles, Yoshi Horikawa

possibilities, young and old Turinese, figure out how to interact with the city and its matter. Here young men push themselves to jump and explore the «ruins» of Parco Dora. During this day of exploration, I got optimistic about the resilience of Torino especially when I see how the people inhabiting it keep it alive.

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That don’t impress me much, HAIM

always a sad sight for me. It shows the dependance architecture has to money, materials and political/power decision.

For years this tower has been staying empty, in the air, with no use for the city or its inhabitant, and leaving the neighborhood of Lingotto in a perpetual state of «work in progress.»

Le mystère abyssal, MLP

fluctuating streams of water that can be quiet, still or powerful and loud.

Depending on the flow, the rain and I guess the seasons you can observe the many «gifts» people left in the river. They can be added to the long list of precious discoveries to be made centuries from now, for the new «us» to question and make sense of.

Trashing the camp, Phil Collins

example of «pacifying architecture.» It was imagined by the same landscape architect — Peter Latz — that offered Duisburg in the Ruhr region, an industrial parc that people can actually in-habit.

Rehabilitation goes further with him, it’s not just historical preservation but an intervention that gives the opportunity to people and nature to interact with spaces that where forbidden to sight and touch, only a few decades ago.

Its majesty and playful mood make people give a new meaning to objects

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CONVERSATION

CHAMPIONS

A Horse with No Name, America

Save your tears, The Weekend

13. Looking out my window, I met from

14. After a night of allegria, the ground

above this man. He looked like he was waiting for something or someone from another time. He laid still and made me think of every old building of Torino, waiting for a new story to tell or to live...

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remained the constant reminder of the city’s hysteria after the football game...

Time washed away the celebration as water will wash away those colorful particles, making us forget that all rivers lead to the sea...

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PLACEMAKING PROPOSAL 01. three possible Sites 01. PARELLA

02. lingotto

SITE 03.

The ARTIFACTS garden, LINGOTTO

SITE 03.

The ARTIFACTS garden, LINGOTTO

380

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100m

01 km

03. barriera di milano GSPublisherVersion 0.0.100.100

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During my first week of exploration, I identified three sites in the city that I found interesting.

I selected them for either their shape, their state, their location, or the opportunities I started to imagine they could offer. One was in Parella, one in Lingotto and one in Barriera di Milano.

During my second week of «Exploring with friends», I wanted to return to these places to get a second look and start discussing aloud about what could be done in these differents spaces. In Parella, I was accompanied by Arthur, a volunteer of the Precollinear Park who asked to go on explorations with me. We revisited this empty site, learned that is used to be an old factory abandoned for many years.

Nature and vegetation had completely reclaimed the ground and walls. Even if its position in front of a primary school and in a residential neighborhood made it interesting, it didn’t raise much interest with the locals we talked to... In the end the option got pushed aside because there wasn’t enough «ruins» to nourish any reinvention and moreover, with the site being privately owned, it was difficult to project any public space on it.

With Liam, a member of TS, we went to Lingotto, in what I called the «Artifacts Garden.» It’s a park where a multitude of little architectures were constructed one day, but who look more like modern ruins today than actual infrastructures. It was raining during our visit so there was very few users to talk to, but the different little spaces gave me much to think about and reinforced my intuition that this could be an interesting placemaking site.

The third site in Barriera di Milano was actually two very different piazzas. One was small, but alive and beautiful with fruit trees and three phone booths. The other one was an abandoned triangle, next to empty industrial buildings. After identifying those two places, I realized on a map that they were linked by one street, 1km straight. I thought the relationship between two spaces, one living and one «dead», linked by this straight street was an interesting composition to explore.

For the final placemaking proposal, I decided to follow my intuition and focus on the second option in Lingotto.

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04.

The circles of life 03.

Modern Ruins

02.

Moonrise Kingdom

01.

The Space in between

PLACEMAKING PROPOSAL 02. the artifacts garden 06.

The wine garden

Artifacts = something men-made arising from an earlier time, regarded as no longer appropriate, relevant, or important..

This a park in Lingotto, shelters a multitude of sleeping structures or modern ruins… This placemaking project proposes to continue their stories, adapting them to new uses and publics, making this strange fragment of the city, a new garden of possibilities…

Forming a network of little installations, they could bring to the people living in Lingotto a space to share and to inhabit together. All these little artefacts could be reimagined one at a time with different publics and for different uses, depending on the time, the funds, the community behind it, etc…

04.

The «almost houses» 07.

Room for nature

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the artifacts garden

01.

The Space in between

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Today the parc gravitates around a small yet major building : a community hall. This leads to think that a community is in place and gathers in this central point regularly. It’s promissing!

But unfortunately, the state of the building and the sanitary situation leaves is empty... Without necessarily investing the building, already occupied, the small piazza in front would still offer a great opportunity for an outdoor gathering installation. In France we would install Pétanque fields and a Guinguette for drinks, music and lights in the trees... But maybe let’s focus on something local! I believe that the activities offered in this building, since they already exist, would benefit from taking place in different spots of the parc, at least in summer times.

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the artifacts garden

02.

Moonrise Kingdom At the heart of the park a surprising moon crescent, is caved into the ground, hosting three trees and a bridge. With it’s shape and situation in the parc, this is maybe my favorite opportunity of placemaking in Parco Vittorio.

Today a little fountain at the bottom of a — very questionnable — bridge, flows and recalls to all that hear it, that they are in the city of the four rivers. Filing this lunar shape with aquatic activities would be a great opportunity of interaction between people and water. The bridge would fulfill its purpose of allowing people to cross, but also to observe, and even maybe to fish imaginary fishes!

The water element has this ability to gather all ages and all social classes. It’s the source of life and freshness… Especially necessary in a city where heat is not easily and naturally handled.

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the artifacts garden

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03.

Modern Ruins

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Placed on concrete «pedestals», those brick walls, seem to have survived wars and time. What is their purpose? It’s a complete mystery. With no roof to carry and large round holes, scattered on their surfaces, their use remains unclear to me, apart from being an interesting canvas for tags.

But objects with no purpose easily become portals for imagination and creativity if placed in good hands. Why not the hands of kids?

There are two installations alike in the park, one on each side. How can these ruins be shaped into two connected playgrounds?

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the artifacts garden

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04.

The «almost houses»

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These little walls appear as bedrocks, the first constructions necessary in the making of houses.

It feels like they were almost about to continue with the walls and roof but the old settlers decided to stop there. What about continuing their work and proposing green houses or a shed or even a tiny house? It could even be a subject for architecture students where they could do some 1:1 scale construction in a semester.

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the artifacts garden

05.

The circles of life

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The circles drawn on the ground both mineral and «vegetal» could offer way more than simple benches and grass. I think they particular shape makes the «vegetal» ones perfect for welcoming permaculture gardens and giving the opportunity to people to work the earth and make this park a productive one!

The mineral ones could welcome skate installations or the proper furniture for picnics and games.

They are a composition of many circles nested in each other, and their different uses could create a unique composition of activities nourishing each other.

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the artifacts garden

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06.

The Wine Garden

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This structure in the shape of a canopy already welcomes vegetation in order to create a shadowed rectangular space in the garden. I would propose to change its natural purpose and make it, not only a provider of shadow but a productive garden. Grape culture can be made on structures alike and this part of the garden could participate in making the Artifacts Garden a food productive area of Lingotto. Along with the vegetables, the grapes could be harvested and sold during a local market once in a while. We could also imagine a wine fair from time to time, riding on the «beer garden» trend...

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the artifacts garden

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07.

Room for nature

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The park has a certain artificial topography that leads some spaces to be flooded during the heavy rains the tropical city of Torino knows well. I believe those spaces could go even further and become small refuges for biodiversity in the city. With the proper landscape design, these «swamps» could become little ponds with vegetation and biodiversity that would make this parc a joyful gathering for all the living.

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