BREAKING THE WALL:
LIBRARY AND MARKET NEAR SANT’AMBROGIO
Topical Design Studio VI-ARCH601-Professor Carlo Achilli Florence, Italy
LIBRARY PERSPECTIVE
The area of the Sant’ Ambrogio Market in Florence, ITaly provides an opportunity in which two piazza designs may speak to one another in order to foster a lively, engaging community. In teams of two, students designed a market as well as a library for the community, and these structures organize their respective piazza spaces. The history of the city is taken into account, especially in regards to the fortress wall that was eventually broken in order to interact with surrounding cities. The ultimate design includes a series of market stalls in the northern piazza as well as the library in the southern piazza, which inform the spaces by acting as perimeter buildings to two sides. The area in which the library is located formerly housed an enclosing wall on all sides, but this wall, like the fortress wall of Florence, is broken in order to connect the two spaces and the surrounding community. The push and pull of the libary bays allow for both private and collaborative spaces, and are emulated in the market design in solid and void space with these same dimensions. The terra cotta tile is reminiscent of the terra cotta roof tile seen throughout the neighborhoods of Florence, while the glazed facades allow for a visual porosity, which promotes the collaborative nature of interior spaces.
DESIGN: TEAM SITE AND BUILDING PLANS: TEAM