ACADEMIA

REMBRANDT IN THE MID-17TH CENTURY DRAWS CHRIST PRESENTED TO THE PEOPLE ON A WHITE PODIUM; DAVID IN DEPICTING THE DEATH OF HIS FRIEND MARAT, WITH HIS BODY IMMERSED IN THE TUB, ELIMINATING EVERY SUPERFLUOUS ELEMENT OF THE COMPOSITION; TELEMACO SIGNORINI’S WHITE WALL DIVIDES THE CANVAS AND ENHANCES

THE RURAL SCENE IN THE FOREGROUND; IN 1992 MIMMO PALADINO’S BRONZE HORSE IMPOSES ITSELF ON THE WALLS SURROUNDING THE HORTUS CONCLUSUS. WORKS FROM FOUR DIFFERENT CENTURIES, OF DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES AND TEXTURES, BUT WITH A COMMON COMPOSITIONAL IDEA: A HORIZONTAL LINE CUTS THE SPACE OUTLINING A PURE FORM, A PODIUM.

THUS, THE HILLS ABOVE THE VINEYARD REST ON THE STAGE, TAKING THE PLACE OF MARAT IN THE POOL, CHRIST ON THE PODIUM, THE HORSE ABOVE THE WALL. THE ARCHITECTURE TENDS TOWARDS THE CONCEPTUAL REPRESENTATION OF A STAGE, A PODIUM MARKED BY THE PACE OF THE VINES AND IN RELATION TO THE HILLS BEHIND. THE PAVILIONS, THE BEATING HEARTS OF THE PRODUCTION PROCESS, INTERFACE WITH THE STAGE, SEEKING A DIRECT DIALOGUE WITH IT.

With T. Fressoia, G.Giovi

STARTING FROM ITS PHILOSOPHICAL MEANING, THE VIRTUAL IS A POTENTIAL REALITY, AS OPPOSED TO ACTUAL REALITY; A PROJECTION OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD, AN “ELECTRIC SPACE” THAT IMPLIES NOT ONLY THE TRANSMIGRATION OF PHYSICALITY INTO THE DIGITAL, BUT ALSO THE DEFINITION OF RULES THAT DELINEATE SPACE AND TIME IN CYBERSPACE, INTANGIBLE BUT POSSIBLE. REINTERPRETING THE CONCEPT OF THE EPHEMERAL, THE PROJECT OVERCOMES ITS MEANING OF IMPERMANENT, TRANSITORY, AND TRANSMIGRATES INTO THE DIGITAL CONTINUUM, THE PAVILION’S CURTAINS ARE HOLOGRAMS, PIXELS, MAKING THE MATERIALITY OF THE PAVILION COMPLETELY INTANGIBLE AND COMPLETELY SUPERFLUOUS, TRANSFORMING THE ARCHITECTURE INTO PURE LIGHT AND PURE SHADOW. IN FACT, THE PAVILION IS ABSORBED BY THE WORK IT CONTAINS AND BECOMES PART OF IT. AS IN THE EXHIBITION OF A SCULPTURE, IT DOES NOT DISREGARD ITS SHRINE AND STANDS IN A COMPLETELY SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP WITH IT. BUT ITS ROLE GOES FURTHER: THE OVERCOMING OF ITS LIMIT IS THE THRESHOLD TO A NEW WORLD, THAT OF EXPERIMENTATION.

A MASSIVE AND COMPACT ‘FORTRESS’, AMONG THE FEW THAT HAVE REMAINED UNCHANGED BY TIME, OPENS UP ON IMPACT NEAR THE ABANDONED VILLAGE OF CAMPO DI BRENZONE. THE SITE SHOWS ITSELF AS A SUCCESSION OF PERCHED AND DISJOINTED VOLUMES THAT DEFINE SPATIALITY IN SYMBIOSIS WITH THE LANDSCAPE. THE INTERVENTION KEEPS THE MEMORY AND CHARM OF THE RUIN PURE AND RESTORES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ELEVATION OF THE ROAD AND THE NATURAL AMPHITHEATRE THAT STANDS OUT TOWARDS THE VALLEY AND THE LAKE, AND FINDS EQUILIBRIUM WITH THE RUIN THROUGH THE CONSTANT RELATIONSHIP WITH THE AXIS THAT LONGITUDINALLY CROSSES THE CONCATENATION OF VOLUMES. THE NEW BUILDING PROJECT IS CHARACTERISED BY A FEW BUT DECISIVE SIGNS, WHICH EVOKE A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL SPATIALITY. THE WALL ASSUMES PRIMARY IMPORTANCE: AS A FRAGMENT, IT RESTORES AND MAINTAINS MEMORY; AS AN INSTRUMENT OF SEPARATION AND DIALOGUE, IT CONSTITUTES A DIAPHRAGM OF RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SURROUNDING NATURE; AS AN INSTRUMENT OF LIGHT TRANSFORMATION, IT DEFINES SPACE.

AN URBAN FABRIC THAT IS NOT VERY DENSE, WITH BUILDINGS THAT RARELY EXCEED THREE STOREYS IN HEIGHT, AND CROSSED BY THE VIA AURELIA, A TRACE OF ANCIENT ROME AND A PRESENCE TRACEABLE IN THE NEARBY ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF LUNI. THE APUAN ALPS FORM THE SCENE.

THE INTERVENTION MAINTAINS A CLOSE LINK WITH THE PRE-EXISTENCES, PRESERVING INTACT THE TWO DISTINCTIVE SIGNS OF THE AREA: THE FORMER BARN AND THE BRICKWORK, WHICH CONSTITUTE THE RULE OF THE SOLIDS AND VOIDS RESPECTIVELY OF THE NEW SETTLEMENT.

THE STRENGTH OF THE PRE-EXISTING BUILDINGS IS MANIFESTED THROUGH A SIGNIFICANT GESTURE: THE NEW VOLUMES DEMATERIALISE IN CORRESPONDENCE WITH THEM, GENERATING WIDE OPENINGS THAT FRAME THEM.

THE CENTRAL COURTYARD GENERATES A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ACCOMMODATION AND PRODUCTION FUNCTIONS DISTRIBUTED IN THE THREE BUILDINGS. THE PRODUCTION SPACE IS IN CLOSE CONTACT WITH THE SURROUNDING CROPS, FRAMED BY THE LARGE CENTRAL VOID AT THE OLD BRICKWORK.

A WALL THAT ISOLATES AND CONNECTS, THAT SEPARATES AND ATTRACTS. A WALL THAT ALLOWS ITSELF TO BE CROSSED AND EMBRACES A PUBLIC YET INTIMATE GARDEN. THE HORTUS CONCLUSUS CONSTITUTES A MOMENT OF REST FROM THE CHAOS OF THE CITY, WITHOUT EVER LOSING CONTACT WITH THE PROFILE OF THE MONTALBANO AND CALVANA HILLS AND THE LUIGI PECCI MUSEUM.

THE WALL, RECALLING THE CASSERO PRATESE, DIVIDES THE PARK INTO AN INNER AND AN OUTER SPACE. THE SPACE IS ARTICULATED ALONG THREE PATHS: ONE ABOVE THE PERIMETER OF THE WALL ITSELF, WITH OPEN VIEWS OF THE LANDSCAPE, ONE INSIDE AND ONE OUTSIDE THE PARK. THE GARDEN IS ENCLOSED ON THREE SIDES BY THE WALL AND ON THE FOURTH BY THE DIRECTIONAL CENTRE THAT RISES FROM THE GROUND, BECOMING PART OF THE WALL ITSELF AND TAKING THE OPPORTUNITY TO RETURN A FRAGMENT OF THE GROUND TO THE EARTH, THROUGH THE ROOF GARDEN. THE PART INSIDE THE WALL IS INTROVERTED, THE WALL BECOMES AN ARTIFICIAL HORIZON LINE, WHICH EXCLUDES CHAOS IN ORDER TO PRESERVE BEAUTY, REMAINING PERMEABLE AND IN CONTACT WITH THE SURROUNDINGS. THE WALL, THEREFORE, MATERIALISES AS A UNIQUE GEOMETRIC ELEMENT AS A DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE CITY AND THE GARDEN.

A CLOD OF EARTH EMERGES FROM THE GROUND. A SLAT UNFOLDS ON THE SLOPE ALONG THE AXIS NORMAL TO SOGESTA. IT IS CONCEALED ON THE OUTSIDE AND IS ONLY REVEALED BY THE COVER, POPULATED BY ANIMALS, AS A RESTITUTION OF SOIL TAKEN FROM THE EARTH. INSIDE, IT PRESENTS ITSELF AS A MICROCOSM WHOSE SPACES ARE EXCAVATED ALONG AN INTERNAL ROAD THAT RUNS THROUGH THE ENTIRE BUILDING, GIVING SHAPE TO THE FUNCTIONS IT HOUSES, MAKING IT AUTONOMOUS AND INDEPENDENT FROM THE OUTSIDE. IN THIS THEATRICAL SCENARIO, A MUTUAL SPECTATOR-ACTOR RELATIONSHIP ALTERNATES BETWEEN ANIMAL AND MAN. MAN FINDS HIS PLACE IN THE PLACES HOLLOWED OUT LIKE CAVES IN THE BLOCK OF EARTH, WITH NO VISUAL COMMUNICATION WITH THE OUTSIDE EXCEPT UPWARDS; THE ANIMAL IS FREE TO MOVE ON THE ROOF.