Poveglia island | Venice
Only few settings can boast the charm of a desert island. From Mompracem to Robinson Crusoe, the island is a place of adventure,exile and shipwreck. Failure and salvation at the same time – the place of the unconscious before being a real geographic site – an island is the place where people challenge themselves getting used to silence and nature, face amazing challenges.
In one of the most charming places in the world, a few kilometers far from San Marco’s bell tower in Venice, a fascinating authentic island skimmed by waters,emerges shyly: Poveglia.
Despite its area extent and beauty that mark the difference between Poveglia and the other lagoon islands, over the last years this incomparable gemstone had to undergo,a disastrous decline. Without any connection to the mainland, abandoned for almost 50 years, today in Poveglia a thick vegetation has grown wild affecting every cultivation and crushing every architecture.
Venice has never completely forgot Poveglia, but its citizens stopped visiting the island over time has become a natural setting for the grimmest tales and fantastic rumors. But, this situation will soon change. The Italian Government – the owner of the estate – has lately put a spotlight on Poveglia, in order to make a reuse of the island possible.
In the wake of this purpose, YAC launches University Island, a project to transform Poveglia into a dream university campus; a place of training, leisure and relax for the many students gathering in Venice.
How to transform a desert island into a spearheading study and research center? Which architecture should be integrated in one of the most delightful locations in the Venetian Lagoon in order to create an international campus to equal the value of one of the most stunning cities in the world?
On these questions, YAC, with the support of RIAM, lays the foundations for University Island inviting all the designers to feel completely fascinated by the magnificence of one of the most breathtaking places of the Venetian Lagoon and to plan a new future composed by activities, good attendance and the vitality of thousands of students who every year choose Venice as an esteemed location for their studies.
self sustainable island
pannel
Taking advantage of the plantations, an important characteristic of the Island; Rehabilitate the original buildings following a “box in a box” concept; and develop a self-sustaining strategy on new buildings through its roofs. These are the main ideas of this project.
The proposed portrayal focus a sense of unity, which in its whole controls and creates spaces of presence and contemplation. Thus, a plaza is created to recieve and distribute all buildings, becoming the project’s central meeting place.
We present a new controlled structure that brings the existing buildings together and defines a play space where several activities converge with the purpose of recreating a typical metropolitan feeling.
This structure is based on a roof defined by a metric that allows spacial liberty and a free air circulation and permeability.
The use of native materials from the island in the expansion project is essencial in order to maintain focus on sustainability – gardened roofs, solar energy and rain water harvesting – combined with farming ground – reintroducing plantations - provides some self-sufficiency to the Island.
The details of new spaces vary depending on light and space necessity. Its singularities are based on a game between whole and hollow, open and closed, presenting paths that recreate different environments of different spaces.
Autonomous spacial appropriation is privileged through the protection of the island’s quality open spaces as well as not adding built elements that could mean the loss of the island’s virgin character.
In this sense, this proposal intends to appropriate and requalify the existing infrastructure while simultaneously adding slight inteventions that are deemed necessary to answer to programatic questions, guided by the creation of green and farming spaces that result in a cultural center and a more cohesive university city.
REFERENCES:
MARKET
The market develops under a regulated roof that defines the different interior spaces and stands on a technical nucleus. It’s suitably open to create courtyards that enable the entrance of light and a more natural environment indoors. It extends on a pre-existing where a lounge and a food hall are developed.
ROOFS
The market is characterized by a gardened roof while the nautic pavilion is based on a photovoltaic panel roof, both of them having a rainwater harvesting pump that supply resources for cleaning and storage of said spaces, while also supplying irrigation for the plantations.
RESIDENCES
The appropriation of the original residency spaces follows a “box in a box” idea, where the proposed spaces diverge from the exterior walls, allowing an indoor courtyard that protects students on an intimate attitude.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS
On existing buildings rehabilitated for programs with more public characteristics its structural walls were kept, while a new interior layout enabled the creation of the required spaces. With this adaptation, a double water roof is a pretext to enhance and evoke the memory and identity of the site.
schemes
site plan
section
exploded axonometric view
double room - single rooms
render - fire space
render - sports area
render - market
