1st World War Research Center
in Crocetta del Montello (TV)
Call for Ideas
2009
This commission requested a new landscape design for the river Piave and its immediate context while working in an area marked by events of war history very significant at the national level (the Napoleonic battle of 1809 and the Battle of the Piave I and II during the World War I). Along this side, Montello laps the shores of the “sacred to the Nation” Piave river and look to the Prealpi, another Great War topical landscape.
In this space, now punctuated by a sparse urbanization, characterized by grassy slopes in which traces of the trenches have now disappeared, there are other elements linked to the war times (bunkers, memorials, observation structures) and the the primary goal must be to reconnect the broken link between memory and the present time.
The concept of LIMIT, surmountable/ insurmountable, WALL as infrastructure, the organization of TRENCH, but also the ability to see without being seen, visible or hidden elements for DEFENCE, the relationship between light and darkness are all issues that interesting for the project. Again, thoughts about TIME, creating fast PATHS or other less direct, requiring time to stop, observe.
The project can be divided into three zones: the first has a development at intervals of fullness and emptiness reminiscent of the trenches on the battlefields built in succession on the basis of the advance or the backing up of the front.
The roof garden that looks like a continuation of the hillside greatly decreases the ambiental impact. The second area that includes library and study center develops in the proximity of Casa Serena (Historic house incorporated in the project), also with underground connections. Large hidden windows allow light to flood the interior spaces with no other natural light sources.The third area intended for parking instead uses the erbablock.
The entire project has been developed starting from the identification of three main areas, which orient the view of the design space to places of historical importance.
The attitude adopted in conceiling volumes was deliberately discreet, to quote defensive architecture and above all as a sign of respect for the environment, which has a recognized and considerable beauty. Hence the decision to ‘hide’ those non- volumes pushing them into the hill at the point of maximum gradient or get more functions to hide behind a series of long walls, like a long trench. The first solution has been adopted for the more public parts, the second for the most intimate and private, housing for instance, to which have been added also a gym and indoor pool.
Stage: Unbuilt
Project: Architects Federica Cristini and Gianluca Marin
