"Levels"

Levels is conceived as a project for a “urban-architecture”, which grafts itself into the interstices of the existing and, at the same time, superimposes itself, with respect to the existing condition, trying to directing its future.

Level +1

The large pillars are grafted at the nodes of a squared mesh. They function in a threefold manner: (1) as the main structural elements of the reticular system; (2) as towers for lifting and moving; (3) as elements which, at their base, generate squares all characterised by the fact that they are a place of tranquillity from the market’s “chaos”. The large hollow reticular beams are arranged according to some axes derived from the surrounding urban textures; they create numerous floating planes for the “new” Eliava Market, in which existing activities are relocated together with some new ones. It is in this exaltation of stratification that Levels seeks the way out for a place that’s full of cultural meaning but at the same time suffers the symptoms of spatial overcrowding.

From Level +1 to Level 0

To thin out the existing density, a sector of the market is moved to the other side of the river. This is an attempt to think the project intervention outside its starting boundary, trying to rethink this vast area in a manner that can’t be separated from a renewed “discourse” with its urban context and landscape. With some of its “long arms”, the upper macro-architecture becomes a “bridge” to overcome the caesura of the river (which would now divide the market into two parts). However, these two parts function and act in mutual relation, allowing for a broader urban-and-architectural rethink.

Level 0

At the ground level, Levels proposes a gesture that is both amnesty and adaptive intervention. Primarily, amnesty: the mixité of intentions, forms and functions that have taken hold over time – maybe the site’s main feature – is accepted; on the other side, a regular attempt at adaptive intervention is sought through standardised architectural modules (in their size as well as in their assembling), as the beginning of a modest process to enhance the market area. One after the other, these steel-framed modules are intended to be “dropped” into the existing site to give it more appropriate spatial qualities, which are required by and for those who work there. Levels expresses the will to direct a process for tomorrow rather than super-detailing a project today for such a space that’s mixed and anarchic itself.

Level -1

The road system tangential to the Eliava Market is rethought: the large street that’s directly facing the south-west front of the area – which creates a strong breaking between the market and the river – is brought underground. This is an attempt to give the market a direct, lively and real contact with the river, freeing the riverfront’s space from cars, towards which it’s now really possible to lean out, in the middle of a park, which is offering as a new large public space, open to the community.

Progetti premiati, menzionati e finalisti: