Ciclo della Cascata

BY PACO DIAZ 1165045

CICLO DELLA

CASCATA

REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

S TUDIO 29

Cit t à d’

Acqua:

Milan Navigli Canal Challenge

STUDIO LEADER: MARKUS JUNG STUDENT: EDUARDO FRANCISCO DÍAZ LÓPEZ 1165045

TABLE OF CONTENTS

01 Prologue.......................................................................1 02 Composite map..............................................................3 03 Overall view...................................................................5 04 Concept idea..................................................................7 05 Process.........................................................................11 06 Final proposition..........................................................15 07 Competition panels........................................................23

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prologue

‘Ciclo della Cascata’ works with local initiatives to form an eco-civic

network. On this site, architecture, urban design and landscaping extend their borders from the simple built space and the natural environment, towards a new model of cooperation; a productive ecological cycle.

A cyclical connection is formed between the canal, the park, and the Palazzo del Senato. The Palazzo del Senato has been converted into a local creative hub, offering studios, collaborative spaces, exhibitions, and public workshops. Water from the canal is extracted to be used in these industries, before being filtered within the park and returned to the canal. This local response challenges the increasing globalisation of industries such as fashion, which is salient given the site’s proximity to the Quadrilatero della Moda precinct.

The site adds public value through extra programming in the park, with the park extended to connect to its surroundings. In addition, locals can engage with the production and water cycles in the project.

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This journal shows a critical analysis of the process of ‘Ciclo della Cascata’ starting from the generality of a group project that connects the eight sites to intervene in this canal. After this, the seed idea of​​ this project is explained, where water, the fashion industry and ecology, serve as protagonists in this intervention. This work was developed in conjunction with Megan Loffler, where together we developed research, concepts, experiments and finally graphics to show these ideas.

Various approaches had the proposal, which helped us to reach our final proposal. Fluid, pragmatic landscape proposals, as well as disruptive architecture proposals, we had to experiment during the proposal process to finally arrive at the final result. These exercises helped us understand what the project really needed, making it clear what was new and original about the site.

The development of this project is more than an architectural, urban and landscape proposal for the city of Milan; it is a process that witnessed various ways of solving the same problem. This journal is a testimony to the refinement and reinvestment of an idea that arose from the problems that surround the world today.

‘Ciclo della Cascata’ responds to the local and global urgencies of this broken world; a perspective of care that starts from what exists towards a world that repairs the future.

Paco Díaz, 2022.

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composite map

Gruop Vision

’Rinascimento in Blu’ reimagines Milan’s heart as a networked urban ecology

through the lens of water: The new civic spine of climate responsive blueprint interventions, envisions future scenarios that integrate architecture and landscape to form a thriving urban socioecology. The projected increase in urban density and ambient temperatures, as well as the post-industrial state of Milan and its Navigli canal system provides an opportunity for multi-scalar innovative and resilient design responses. ‘Rinascimento in Blu’ demonstrates how future urban planning must address the Urban Heat Island (UHI) Effect through hyperlocal and city-wide responses while engaging with the international discourse as global issues require extensive, interconnected local solutions.

Design proposals form a series of engineered ‘cooling devices’ that capitalise on evaporative cooling, natural ventilation and shading, best practice greenblue infrastructure integration and synergetic urban, landscape and architectural designs. Collectively, the ‘Rinascimento in Blu’ project sites aim to enhance social and physical connectivity, water and air quality, health, well-being, and programmatic mixity. Thus, envisioning a resilient strategy that could be adapted to similar environments across the globe.

Ciclo della Cascata Vision

Site number 5 is where ‘Ciclo della Cascata’ emerges, a place surrounded by the famous quadrilatero della moda and all the influence that this industry marks in our area and in the city of Milan in general. Also, very close to the ‘Pallazzo del Senato’ where it currently serves as the city’s archive, but architecturally as a barrier to the park within our site. The proximity to the most famous area of​​ Milan ‘Piazza del Duomo’ and the proximity to this ‘fashion’ precinct, make this site a very special place.

Quadrilatero della moda in conjunction with the Palazzo del Senato, are key to the development of the concept of this project, which is explained in the following section.

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Rinascimento inBlu

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overall view

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concept idea

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Reinterpretation of existing forms

GECOLA BY PACO DÍAZ

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Palazzo Senato as a border

In the first instance, the ‘Palazzo del Senato’ plays an important part in this project, which despite not being an official part of our site, we saw as an opportunity to take this building and make it part of the intervention. The conceptual idea with the Palazzo del Senato was to create a forceful connection from the interior to the garden that is part of our site to intervene. The palazzo would then house a new system where activities related to local fashion accompanied by water from the canal would try to challenge the fashion industry that surrounds the site, promoting the development of small local industries.

Treatment and Purification

Water Pollution

Repurposing Clothes Social Reintegration

Production Waste Unsustainable Disposal Labour Exploitation

The small industries that would house the Palazzo del Senato would have a very particular variant: the use of water from the canal. The water from the canal plays an important role as it is used for various processes in clothing, so the extraction of water became evident in the project; but once the water is used, it leaves the building towards the garden where it is filtered and cleaned by plants and finally returns to the canal. This is where the concept of ‘cycle’ is born, since one is formed by extracting and returning the water, where the way of moving the water is through ‘waterfalls’, either naturally or inverted.

COLLAGE BY MEGAN LOFLER

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process

This new ‘cycle’ was worked in different ways: first, an attempt was made to extract the water and carry it through the garden. Then, take it inside the building through a new volume that abruptly connects these two spaces, then it will be used inside on clothing. It would then filter into a ‘green’ roof in the second courtyard that would function as a pavilion to display what was being done inside. Finally, the idea was to return the water to the canal through a waterfall where people could walk under it.

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PLAN BY CO PA DÍAZ

This exercise allowed us to reflect on two things in particular: the first, the gravity of water. In the first instance we focused on bringing the water in the natural way as much as possible, however this caused the cycle to start from the outside when perhaps it should start from the inside. Thanks to this, we began to look for other ways to carry the water and discovered new concepts such as reverse waterfalls that allowed us to give a better meaning to this cycle that we were creating.

ISOMETRIC BY MEGAN LOFFLER

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The proposal took a new direction now that the water was extracted in a remarkable way, in addition to allowing us to start the cycle from the palazzo, where the water would be used to treat the clothes. This exercise helped us clarify the meaning of this cycle, so we could take the water out and clean it through a ‘water’ garden to finally return the water to the canal by gravity.

We had different precedents that helped us understand that it is often an advantage to make these ‘cycles’ evident.

‘Reversed Waterfall’ gave us the opportunity to think of different ways to bring water to certain places, without the need to always do it by gravity.

The Pompidou Center allowed us to reflect on making structures evident, allowing us to make evident the new over the existing. Port House allowed us to think of a different way of storing water, creating volumes that changed the reading of the building and making the extraction of water evident, as well as identifying the new architecture from the existing one.

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Inspiration

Eliasson, Olafur. 1998. Reversed Waterfall. https://olafureliasson.net/archive/artwork/WEK101545/reversed-waterfall

Studio Piano & Rogers. 1971-1977.

Centre Georges Pompidou. http://www.rpbw.com/project/centre-georges-pompidou

Zaha Hadid Architects. 2009-2016. Port House. https://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/port-house/. Image by Helene Binet

Later, we reflect on the treatment of this water garden. We allowed ourselves to experiment with both fluid and pragmatic ways, both had their advantages, however, the pragmatic way allowed us to make clear the new from the old, since next to our site we have an even bigger garden with a more classic design. In addition, in this way we have a dialogue with the façade of the Palazzo del Senato.

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Once this was decided, two problems arose to solve: the way to return the water and the new ‘piazza’ that we formed.

We allowed ourselves to experiment with the accessibility of the plaza, as well as an equal lenguage between the staircase and the ‘waterfall’ that returns the water to the canal. This exercise allowed us to understand that we needed a connection, in addition to showing us an opportunity for public space through water: a waterfall that, in addition to returning water, could be used as a recreation area.

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final proposition Finally, we were able to articulate our proposal as a regenerative system that addresses the climatic and social problems of the Milanese society. Similarly, the adjoining building was rescued and complemented to solve global and local social problems.

A waterfall was created that would return the water to the canal; it responds to the architecture of the Palazzo del Senato and the new landscape design of the garden, creating a harmonic ensemble and providing a public and recreational space for the people of Milan: an aquatic plaza where spectators will witness this great cycle of water .

This new cascading cycle allowed us to improve the architecture, the landscape and encouraged an urban design that big cities need today.

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PLAN BY CO PA DÍAZ

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EXTRACTION STORAGE BIOFILTRATION

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SECTION BY MEGAN LOFFLER

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DRAWINGS BY MEGAN LOFFLER

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22 RENDERS BY PACO DÍAZ

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competition panels

Being this a project for an international architecture competition, we took on the task of creating a simple but clear layout, showing through views, sections, a diagram and a map, the development of the project that we developed during the semester. With this, we demonstrate the key points of the proposal, which are: the new connection between Palazzo del Senato and the garden, the use of water from the canal for a social practice, the cleaning and filtration of the water used to return it to the canal, to solve the global and local problems of clothing consumerism.

In this way, we present this new ‘cycle’ that will impact the city of Milan in various ways and also generates quality public space.

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CICLO DELLA

CASCATA