CADENCE IN CULTURE

CULTURAL CENTER IN CASTIGLION FIORENTINO, ITALY BY ZACHARY MARTINEZ, SHAELYN PARKER, ZECHARIAH SIMPSON SPRING 2022 CARC 301

English:

Italian culture is rooted in rich traditions and vivid social interactions. The small Tuscan town of Castiglion Fiorentino is an excellent case study of this sentiment, demonstrated through a characteristically cadent lifestyle, be it a daily stroll through town, the church bells that ring in each hour of the day, or the midday “riposo” taken by local businesses to be with family or have a break. Chief among these is the weekly local market that takes place in the town’s Piazza Garibaldi, where vendors gather every Friday morning to sell locallysourced food, clothing, and other goods. However, this rhythm isn’t just exclusive to the town’s daily culture. An investigative look at the town’s architecture reveals physical patterns that reflect a similar cadence— adjacent buildings’ roofs stair step up and down from one another, while chimneys, towers, church steeples and cypress trees vertically punctuate their profile. These two distinct patterns, cultural and physical, became the driving influence behind Castiglion Fiorentino’s new cultural center located directly adjacent to Piazza Garibaldi. A cafe, jazz bar, visitor center, exhibition space, library, and outdoor gathering space populate the site, with building massing and circulation patterns derived from studies of rooflines throughout Castiglion Fiorentino. In addition, the project incorporates outdoor space fit for occupation by market stalls and public events. This design pulls in not only the economic opportunities from the adjacent piazza, but also the social interactions that define Castiglion Fiorentino’s cultural cadence.

Italiano:

La cultura italiana è radicata in ricche tradizioni e vivaci interazioni sociali. Il paese toscano di Castiglion Fiorentino è un eccellente caso di studio di questo sentimento, dimostrato attraverso uno stile di vita tipicamente cadenzato, che si tratti di una passeggiata quotidiana per il paese, delle campane delle chiese che suonano a ogni ora del giorno, o del riposo di mezzogiorno preso dalle imprese locali per stare con la famiglia o fare una pausa. Il principale tra questi è il mercato locale settimanale che si svolge in Piazza Garibaldi, dove venditori si riuniscono ogni venerdì mattina per vendere cibo, vestiti e altri beni di provenienza locale. Tuttavia, questo ritmo non è solo esclusivo della cultura quotidiana della città. Uno sguardo investigativo all’architettura della città rivela schemi fisici che riflettono una cadenza simile: le scale dei tetti degli edifici adiacenti salgono e scendono l’una dall’altra, mentre camini, torri, campanili di chiese e cipressi ne punteggiano verticalmente il profilo. Questi due modelli distinti, culturale e fisico, divennero l’influenza trainante dietro il nuovo centro culturale di Castiglion Fiorentino situato direttamente adiacente a Piazza Garibaldi. Un caffè, un jazz bar, un centro visitatori, uno spazio espositivo, una biblioteca e uno spazio di ritrovo all’aperto popolano il sito, con schemi di volumetria e circolazione degli edifici derivati dagli studi sulle linee del tetto di Castiglion Fiorentino. Inoltre, il progetto incorpora uno spazio esterno adatto all’occupazione di bancarelle ed eventi pubblici. Questo progetto attira non solo le opportunità economiche dalla piazza adiacente, ma anche le interazioni sociali che definiscono la cadenza culturale di Castiglion Fiorentino.

PIAZZA GRANDE LOGGIA (1572), GIORGIO VASARI

Piazza Grande is located in the heart of the city of Arezzo. This elongated loggia is an important structural and circulatory element for events occupying the Piazza space. This structure extends and interacts with the piazza to encourage the visitors to freely enter the weekly market and progress through the spaces. A fantastic opportunity that the loggia offers, is how it serves as an extension of the market itself. Vendors utilize the free space under the structure a place to set up their booths. This loggia’s interaction with the adjacent piazza, and its relationship with the market in town was a major influence on the loggia in the current proposal.

CANYON PRESERVE (2020), LAKE FLATO

The Canyon Preserve project by Lake Flato is inspired by the surrounding vegetation, sloping hillsides and highlighted viewpoints. The proposed cultural center draws inspiration from structure and the use of materials to accentuate those standalone moments. The overhang that pierces the building is supported by stylistic steel columns and beams and is translated into the concept for the loggia in the new proposal. The use of the stone and the contrast to the steel elements was a visual appeal that could be exploited in the proposal’s materiality.

BRADBURY BUILDING (1893), GEORGE WYMAN

Final building massing

This particular project hearkens back to a Beaux Arts style of architecture, integrating a steel framing system that spans multiple floor levels. It creates a massive atrium space along with open floor plans and a sense of expansion. This creates a primary hierarchical moment in the structure, pierced by natural daylight entering from a skylight above. The user experiences the space beginning at the ground level in a more dense and heavy architectural design as a result of the thick, load-bearing brick walls with neutral-colored brick to accentuate the height of the space while also grounding it. The focus was to utilize this same language of thin structural elements of steel in combination with glazing to emphasize verticality and generate open interior spaces.

These floor plans help to show the different pieces of program through the northern building, and the southern building. We can clearly see the public piazza where the weekly market and other events can take place, located in the center right of the site, sandwiched between the north/south masses. We also notice the small amount of green space seen as a refuge toward the back of the site. The northern mass has the exhibition space and visitors center and the southern one has the cafe/jazz bar.

First Floor

First Floor

The second floors of either building include terraces and generous views of the valley below. The nothern building has a library space and study rooms, while the southern mass includes seating area on its terrace to host a nice rooftop bar space.

Second Floor

Second Floor

South Elevation

Longitudinal Section

Cafe/Jazz Bar : Longitudinal Section

Cafe/Loggia: Transverse Section