Master's Thesis Project '18

“Santuario alle Edicole Votive�

Shrine to the Edicole Votive

- Elise Marie Francis

“non avrà loco fu, sarà, nè era; ma è solo, in presente, e ora e oggi, e sola eternità raccolta e’ntera ...” it won’t have a place, it wasn’t nor will it be but it only is, in the present, and now, and today, and only the gathered and entire eternity ...

- Petrarca

“Santuario alle Edicole Votive�

Shrine to the Edicole Votive

- Elise Marie Francis

INTRODUCTION | PROJECT DESCRIPTION PAGE | 6

“The ... city is a tale of places overlapping, interlocking and huddled together, flights of steps, lanes, terraces, pergolas, gazebos, cloisters, gates, soaring buildings, towers, elevators, and lookout points.”

– V. Galdi

Secret Genoa waits patiently to be discovered. Over an eight-month period I have endeavored to explore Genoa’s well-kept (and sometimes unkempt) treasures. My design methodology is an architectural form of narrative collage inspired by the writing of Italo Calvino and Bruno Schulz. The city is understood as a dense space of intertwined and overlapping stories that can be (re)written using alternative narratives that reveal essential qualities of the city without relying on what may be considered strictly factual.

Edicole Votive are the catalyst for this story, architectural constructions that are embedded within or attached to facades of buildings, usually composed of two columns and a pediment, often hosting a figure within an apsidal space.

They are typically located above eyelevel, visible to passers-by from afar, but difficult to investigate at close proximity.

Edicole Votive act as a portal to another realm, a potential space of connection between the sacred and the mundane.

The “Shrine to the Edicole Votive� imagines a recently abandoned and newly discovered space in which a fictional character, the Caretaker of the Edicole Votive, may have lived and worked. It is simultaneously a composition of and an erosion of largescale, edicola-type spaces that allows the visitor to explore the mystery of the inaccessible spaces within edicole votive. At the same time, partially restored edicole are displayed within the space as a tribute to the work of the Caretaker who is no longer present.

The Shrine to the Edicole Votive evokes the material, light, and spatial qualities of the spaces within edicole votive. It is composed using a spatial and material collage technique drawn from a library of photographic and sketching studies overlaid on the collected memories of my experiences discovering hidden Genoa and my architectural pilgrimage in Europe.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION | CONCEPT EDICOLE VOTIVE | DEFINITION

AS SYMBOL

AS ARCHITECTURE

AS SPACE

// 10 - 19 // 12 // 14 // 16 // 18

ARCHITECTURAL PILGRIMAGE | TRAVEL AS PRECEDENT VENICE | CARLO SCARPA, RELIC + INSERTED TRAY GYPSOTHECA | CARLO SCARPA, VOLUMES + LIGHT CASTELVECCHIO | CARLO SCARPA, FLOATING OBJECTS IN SPACE FLORENCE/ROME | CHURCHES, PERSPECTIVAL SPACES LAURENTIAN LIBRARY | MICHELANGELO, INGLENOOK SPACES RONCHAMP | LE CORBUSIER, LIGHTING DEVICES LONDON | SIR JOHN SOANE, ADDITIVE + SUBTRACTIVE SPACES

// 20 - 37 // 24 // 26 // 28 // 30 // 32 // 34 // 36

STAGLIENO CEMETERY | ANALYSIS

REASON

MATERIAL CONCEPT

PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDY

SKETCH STUDY

// 38 - 51 // 40 // 42 // 44 - 47 // 48 - 51

SANTUARIO ALLE EDICOLE VOTIVE | PROPOSAL SITE ANALYSIS | GENOA URBAN FABRIC

// 52 // 54 // 56 // 60 // 66 // 68 // 72

SALITA SALVATORE VIALE

EXISTING SITE CONDITIONS | PLANS + SECTIONS INITIAL PROPOSAL | MATERIAL, LIGHT + SPATIAL STUDY DESIGN PROCESS | SKETCH + MODEL STUDY DESIGN DRAWINGS | PLANS, SECTIONS + PERSPECTIVES

- 95 - 59 - 65 - 70 - 95

EDICOLE VOTIVE | DEFINITION PAGE | 12

Edicole Votive are small-scale temples or shrines; architectural constructions meant to protect or host divine figures within. Throughout Genova, they are typically located on the facades of buildings, of religious or secular function, usually at the turn of the street or in a piazza, and significantly higher than eye-level. The word “edicola” is derived from the Latin word “aedicula”, from the root “aedes” which translates to “tempio” in Italian, or “temple” in English. These small constructed spaces can be viewed as portals to the religious world, or visual connections between the sacred and secular.

EDICOLE VOTIVE | AS SYMBOL PAGE | 14

The book “Edicole Votive e Centro Storico� by Patrizia Falzone is an attempt to promote the rediscovery of the Genoese heritage of the edicole votive by documenting and cataloging the symbolic narrative and formal features of edicole votive within the city’s historic center. In ancient times, their placement was intended to mark a crossroad, spring, or place where a miraculous event had taken place. They served to protect the place on which they were built, such as the access to a city or entrance to a building, and to reassure travelers at crucial points in their journeys, such as intersections and stopping points, presenting an opportunity for prayer. In current times, these small temples have been transformed into objects of devotion to divine figures and saints.

EDICOLE VOTIVE | AS ARCHITECTURE PAGE | 16

Each edicola is unique, using additive or subtractive processes to attach to the building upon which it is located.

As an architectural element, I became interested in the niche spaces of the edicole votive, that is, the space hidden behind the figure within the temple.

EDICOLE VOTIVE | AS SPACE PAGE | 18

By analyzing the Edicola’s relationship to the street, I became aware of the placement of the structure, and its height above the human eye-level. This made it difficult for me to discover the space within the Edicola, hidden by a statue or other architectural elements.

ARCHITECTURAL PILGRIMAGE | TRAVEL AS PRECEDENT PAGE | 22

Studying abroad in Genoa meant that important architectural precedent projects were more easily accessible for me to visit in person throughout my thesis semester.

Proceeding are the works that I analyzed, and then eventually incorporated specific elements of each into my own design.

VENICE | CARLO SCARPA, RELIC + INSERTED TRAY PAGE | 24

IUAV University Garden, Venice, Italy, 1966-85

Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice, Italy, 1961-63

I was highly influenced by Carlo Scarpa, and the attention to detail displayed in his works.

In the IUAV University’s garden, Scarpa uses the relic of an arch on the wall to create a seating element. Another technique that he frequently uses is to create the illusion of a floor that is separate from its walls, like an inserted tray in a volume of space.

GYPSOTHECA | CARLO SCARPA, VOLUMES + LIGHT PAGE | 26

The Gypsotheca, Treviso, Italy, 1955-57

Sketch analyses of Scarpa’s Gypsotheca reveals the insertion of a well-lit, airy space into a very small area between the preexisting buildings on the site. I focused on the architectural devices that Scarpa designed to allow light to pour into the space. This creates a contrasting condition between volumes of light and space with varying levels of illumination.

CASTELVECCHIO | CARLO SCARPA, FLOATING OBJECTS IN SPACE PAGE | 28

Castelvecchio Museum, Verona, Italy, 1957-64

A major feature of the Castelvecchio Museum is the termination of the first series of gallery exhibits with an exterior set of staircases that attach the modern gallery to ancient parts of the castello. The statue of a significant lord on a horse floats above the garden, creating a visual connection to other parts of the museum, indicating a trajectory of the path to be taken.

FLORENCE/ROME | CHURCHES, PERSPECTIVAL SPACES PAGE | 30

Baptistery, Florence, Italy, 1059 - 1128

Examination and analysis of important historical churches in Rome and Florence reveals a theme of the forced perspectival arrangement of architectural elements, to create an illusion of projected space.

Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, Italy, 1385

Sant’Agnese in Agone, Rome, Italy, 1652

LAURENTIAN LIBRARY | MICHELANGELO, INGLENOOK SPACES PAGE | 32

Laurentian Library, Florence, Italy, 1571

In the entry stair to the Laurentian Library Michelangelo inverts the standard role of wall as field condition and pilaster as projected articulation. Instead, he carves niches within the wall surface to hold columns while simultaneously pushing the walls forward to accentuate the inversion. This method can also be recognized in Edicole Votive.

RONCHAMP | LE CORBUSIER, LIGHTING DEVICES PAGE | 34

Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France, 1955

Le Corbusier created a unique spatial experience in the chapel of Ronchamp by fully realizing the plasicity of space articulated with highly textured surfaces.

He revolutionized the experience of sacred space using strategic openings for light, and color.

LONDON | SIR JOHN SOANE, ADDITIVE + SUBTRACTIVE SPACES PAGE | 36

Sir John Soane Museum, London, England, 1792 - 1824

Sir John Soane carefully considered the selection and placement of objects on display in his home, which later became a museum. The project is a play in contrasts between carved spaces which hold and sacrilize artifacts, and additive elements that present pedestals, plinths, and shelves upon which objects can be placed. These additive elements then become a new body that is again carved to strategically admit light, sometimes in vibrant colors.

STAGLIENO CEMETERY | REASON PAGE | 40

Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno, Genoa, Italy, 1851

Edicole Votive are smaller-scale objects that are usually out of reach. In order to explore the hidden spaces within these built constructions, I looked elsewhere to a place with similar structures. Cimiterio Monumentale di Staglieno in Genova is located just outside of the city’s historic center. Opened in 1851, it was intended to be a place of monuments for memoralizing the dead. A quadrangular central ground features an imposing Pantheon upon the hillside, flanked by arcades filled with marble sculptures and carved tableaux. Its beautiful marble and granite structures and larger-scale carved spaces possess similar qualities to Edicole Votive. I turned to the cemetery as a place where I could further investigate the qualities of these subtractive spaces. Through photographic and sketch studies of the textures and volumetric conditions that form many unique spaces within the cemetery, I developed a material and spatial palette with very particular techniques for working with natural light. I used this catalogue of materials, textures, spatial arrangements, and lighting conditions to construct alternative architectonic narratives to help me make sense of my evolving understanding of hidden Genoa.

STAGLIENO CEMETERY | MATERIAL CONCEPT PAGE | 42

STAGLIENO CEMETERY | PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDY PAGE | 44

A strong architectural feature of the cemetery’s urban plan is the framed views created by continuous arcades and openings that face onto the landscape or frame monumental termini such as the Pantheon or other large-scale sculptures.

The cemetery also consists of repeated architectural elements that serve to illuminate the spaces buried within the hillside below the Pantheon. Layered spaces carved into the walls, floors, and ceilings, with repeated openings allow light to be directed into the deepest spaces within the hillside.

STAGLIENO CEMETERY | PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDY PAGE | 46

The spatial sequence of my journey through the cemetery served as framework for the developing spatial narrative of my project. Through drawing the spaces that I encountered as I moved through the cemetery, I was able to record the proportions and scale of a diverse range of spatial moments, and recall the impact that they had on my experience.

STAGLIENO CEMETERY | SKETCH STUDY PAGE | 48

SKETCHES | STAGLIENO CEMETERY PAGE | 50

SITE ANALYSIS | GENOA URBAN FABRIC PAGE | 54

Two features of the urban fabric that give Genoa its peculiar character are the “hidden places� of Genoa, and the negotiation of slope and radical changes in elevation which make a significant impact on movement through the city.

SITE ANALYSIS | SALITA SALVATORE VIALE PAGE | 56

The site I chose is located off of one of the most popular commercial streets in Genoa.

In spite of its proximity to Via XX Settembre, the site is remarkably tranquil. It can be considered a hidden place in Genoa, as it is so frequently overlooked by shoppers and pedestrians on the nearby streets.

SITE ANALYSIS | SALITA SALVATORE VIALE PAGE | 58

I initially stumbled upon the site attracted by the dilapidated relic of the archways seen from afar on the wall facing Via XX Settembre and overlooking underused piazza below.

The stairs lead up to Corso Andrea Podesta, a route more frequently used by locals on an everyday basis.

Elements of the site, such as the decaying nature of the wall, and the remains of forgotten architectural grandeur, fueled my imagination and presented the perfect opportunity to imagine a story that could be carved into and exist only within the presence of the historic wall. In the design proposal, I used elements of the existing wall and staircase to form spaces through subtractive and additive processes.

EXISTING SITE CONDITIONS | PLANS + SECTIONS PAGE | 60

Existing Site Plan

INITIAL PROPOSAL | MATERIAL, LIGHT + SPATIAL STUDY PAGE | 66

Approximately 100 meters from the site is the Church of Santo Stefano, elevated above ground level and overlooking Via XX Settembre. Drawing architecturally from this multi-level historic church, I intend to highlight the relationship between the layered nature of Genoa’s historic urban fabric using an interlocking circulation system that navigates an L-shaped, vertical site.

The initial concept diagram was created using a form of narrative collage inspired by writers, filmmakers, and artists, like Italo Calvino, Bruno Schulz, and Piranesi. The project is an imaginary space created by collaging textures and lighting conditions.

It navigates the verticality of the site with a series of linear spaces that create a unique sensorial experience. The space is diverse, with multiple paths and experiences for the individual user. It allows for a sense of discovery and the potential for metamorphosis as one moves through the space. As inherent qualities of the space change along the procession, the user gains a sense of direction and purpose, with moments for pause, reflection, and enlightenment.

DESIGN PROCESS | SKETCH + MODEL STUDY PAGE | 68

Sketches and study models helped me to better understand the sequence of spaces and their experiential qualities that I had imagined in my mind. To create the final drawings I used a layered process of drawings generated from a 3D model and collage using the photographs I had taken.

DESIGN PROCESS | SKETCH + MODEL STUDY PAGE | 70

DN

DN

C

A

B

D

D

E

E

DN

DN

A

C

B

FINAL DRAWINGS | PLANS, SECTIONS + PERSPECTIVES PAGE | 78

Upper-level Floor Plan

A

C

B

D

D

DN

DN

E

E

DN

UP

A

C

B

FINAL DRAWINGS | PLANS, SECTIONS + PERSPECTIVES PAGE | 80

Mid-level Floor Plan

C

A

B

D

D

UP

E

E

UP

DN

A

C

B

FINAL DRAWINGS | PLANS, SECTIONS + PERSPECTIVES PAGE | 82

Ground-level Floor Plan

C

A

B

D

D

E

E

UP

A

C

B

FINAL DRAWINGS | PLANS, SECTIONS + PERSPECTIVES PAGE | 86

There are two ways to access the project; both are hidden, and have limited connection between them. Both entries can be discovered by a curious visitor arriving from either above or below. There is one doorway that connects the two interlocking, L-shaped circulation paths, that is concealed by a statue within a large-scale, edicola.

There are three large-scale, edicola-type spaces that evoke the spatial, material, and light qualities within the niches of the smaller-scale edicole votive. Each is connected by a series of stairways that navigate the verticality of the site, and pass through a series of spaces that vary in scale and experiential quality. Reflective surfaces are used to strategically bring greater amounts of natural light into the deeper spaces within the site.

Water is used to enhance the sensory experience of the largest volume, reminiscent of a grotto in an enchanted forest, but typical of the unkempt spaces that can be discovered in hidden Genoa.

The more public access to the project is hidden within an existing wall, in attempt to hide itself in plain sight. Parts of the wall are modified to accommodate openings for light, and to give hints about what lies within. Upon entry, the most highly preserved Edicole Votive are on display along an ascending staircase, allowing observation of the object at a closer viewpoint. The second entrance to the project is from above, hidden within a garden overgrown by shrubs, and providing access to the grotto below. Descending into the space below, a series of abandoned rooms evoke the memory of the caretaker of the edicole who once lived and worked in this place. Several of these spaces provide visual access to the main entry but only limited connection.

FINAL DRAWINGS | PLANS, SECTIONS + PERSPECTIVES PAGE | 88

- Thank You