Project under approval
The project for the “Restoration work on the Rocca for the creation of a museum center on Ludovico Ariosto and the Garfagnana of the 1500s” is the latest approved project on which Professor Marco Dezzi Bardeschi worked and on which we had the privilege of collaborating.
But there is another “last project” the one for the “Realization of the new entrance to the National Museum of Napoleonic Residences, Villa San Martino” on the Island of Elba that we were working on with Marco Dezzi Bardeschi.
We were still in the preliminary phase of the study, we had identified the architectural solution but the project was still in the embryonic state then, after his sudden disappearance, there was a period of stasis (also because Italian bureaucracy has its own times, especially in cases like this).
Then came the pandemic that blocked the administrative process until now….. Today the contract specification with the Ministry of Culture was finally signed and the final project delivered.
The second “last project” of Marco Dezzi Bardeschi and his team will finally be realized.
The project concerns the construction of the new ticket office, located along the path that leads from the parking lot to the museum of Villa San Martino, just inside the garden that surrounds the villa.
It is an “open” structure. Only the central core where the 2 attendants are located is “enclosed, the surrounding corridor is covered but open along the outer perimeter.
Some elements placed on the perimeter are intended to prevent rain from falling directly on the scanner place at the entrance and other security equipment.
Having solved the functional requirements, we devoted ourselves to the compositional aspects, from the floor, characterized by a series of geometric designs that have precise historical references, to what is the soul of the project: a shading superstructure, made of Corten steel that is nothing but the stylization of Napoleon’s famous hat.
Project approved, work in progress
Let us recall again the architectural concept presented by our group at the competition (2017) to confirm the goal of the project: that of connecting the magic of the fortress and places of Garfagnana with the fantastic ones of childhood memory.
The castle as an ideal spin-off of tradition and as an incubator of local identity, cultural growth and entrepreneurship.
With the conservation project, we aimed to respect and enhance the important chapter of the neo-stolicist reconstruction works of the Rocca after the wartime destructions conducted by the superintendent of Pisa (Piero Sanpaolesi), as a tribute to one of the great masters of the new culture of conservation.
And, with the architectural design, to enhance in our turn Ariosto’s imagery by projecting narrative rediscovered new functional and representative role of museum pole from the Rocca to its exterior, to involve and reactivate a necessary greater knowledge of the system of fortified settlements of the surrounding Garfagnana territory of which the Rocca will be the reference HUB.
In addition to taking into account both the suggestions of the place, the Works of Ariosto, and his contemporaries, and also the desirable interactions with the world of comics, the layout tends to be user-friendly thanks to the conscious use of digital technology that , by its nature, is flexible and adaptable to the different needs that may arise from time to time.
Project under approval
Thinking and acting in a sustainable form is now a topic of debate involving the entire field of planning and in which design responsibilities contribute to the eco-friendly development of the urban environment and territory.
History, however, teaches us that people have won the future with ideas and often, in a time of crisis and hardship, have produced the culturally best fruits.
Just to cite examples: the gloomy Middle Ages gave us the supreme Dante, while the prolific Renaissance devolved into Mannerism/Baroque.
The project involves the construction of a civilian housing building, in place of a former farm building, in very poor static condition with obvious signs of collapse and no longer salvageable, as well as another building in a precarious structure, in place of which a new dwelling will be built.
It is necessary to start again with research on “typological design”; in fact, the Tuscan farmhouse inspired “organic architecture,” and Wright was the perfect proxy for an evolution, in a modern key, of the traditional dwelling: we all remember “the house on the waterfall.”
Our research continues in this direction by moving forward and addressing two main issues: on the one hand, the search for the evolution of the urban role of a representative civil architecture, able to witness tradition in its relationship with contemporary transformations, thus continuity in tradition, measure and authority and innovation; on the other hand, the organization of spaces as an expression of the condition of contemporary man, in search of “sustainable living,” meaning the possibility of constructing a building, limiting the impact on the surrounding environment as much as possible.
Therefore, we thought of a completely self-contained building as an example of a sustainable building integrated into the territory. A one-story building only above ground with a green roof, tale to blend in with the hill, almost as if it were a step.
Project approved, not implemented
When a private client came to our studio asking us to draw up a project to move an antenna, located near the square of the village of Monsummano Alto, given the peculiarity of the place we suggested transforming the antenna into an antenna-sculpture and placing it in a position that, in addition to being functionally suitable, would allow a harmonious dialogue between the surrounding environment and the antenna-sculpture.
In fact, the idea was to propose an installation that would contribute to enhancing the context (the work was to be placed about 710 meters from the square right above the quarry front and would be visible from the highway and the entire surrounding area). Subsequently we met involved some Sculptors with whom we were collaborating and, after a series of study meetings, we decided to enlist the collaboration of Artist Luigi Russo Papotto.
The latter developed our concept to the point of proposing a layout that then, once engineered, would become the antenna-sculpture project.
The philosophy of the project was to enhance a form, “the trellis,” erroneously and commonly believed to be unresponsive to the aesthetic canons of harmony and compatibility with the environment.
The result is a Work that almost flaunts and does not mask the trellis structure but, rather, imposing it to the point where it rises to the status of a real sculpture with its own expressive and aesthetic autonomy.
The work, in our intentions, would have been composed of three elements intersected with each other to create a compositional unicum.
They would have presented themselves as tubular structures on which plastic elements would have been placed, as remnants du a previous structure.
The pylons, unusual in artistic composition, would have aroused in the viewer a feeling of instability and precariousness and, at the same time, would have appeared, in their being remnants, as a premonition of a functional overcoming that is inevitable in a society characterized by constant technological renewal.
The work would have interacted with nature: the wind, investing its parts, would have stimulated a sound, like organ pipes; the rain would have transformed – temporarily – the sculpture into a fountain; the sun would have “worked” reflecting its forms and colors.
Submitted project
Michele Sarno, a friend I met many years ago in Nusjord (Lofoten Islands) contacted me because he wanted an idea for a building, to be built near his home, to be dedicated to a goldsmith’s workshop (on the ground floor) and a bistro (upstairs).
In order to make maximum use of the available space, the choice was made to access the second floor via an external staircase.
Moreover, in this way, the two activities would be independent.
The goldsmith’s workshop, where Michele would make and sell his creations, consisted of a publicly accessible space dedicated to sales and a reserved area where the workshop and accessory rooms would be located.
The Bistrot, called KrisMar, featured a gabled roof, equipped with large skylights, which, on the main front, was made, as were the walls, of glass.
This solution allows both a view of the bay and the surrounding panorama and the opportunity to observe the sky and the northern lights that often occur in Lofoten.
A large terrace, located at the back, overlooking a charming pond would have been an additional vantage point for viewing the Norwegian sky.
For now the project has remained on paper but Michele hopes one day to make it a reality.
Submitted project
STUDIO di fattibilità tecnico economica per la nuova sede dell’ISTITUTO FORTI, Monsummano Terme (PT).
Project realized
NUOVA SEDE DELLA PUBBLICA ASSISTENZA MONSUMMANESE, Monsummano Terme (PT).
Restauro e riqualificazione della sede Comunale di Capannoli
Villetta bifamiliare in legno con criteri NZEB
Villetta NZEB unifamiliare
Bioclimatic Greenhouse
Below we show the design of No. 2 villas under construction in addition to a school complex where the inclusion of a bioclimatic greenhouse is planned.
The bioclimatic greenhouse is a passive technology for controlling thermohygrometric flows, aimed at improving living comfort and reducing consumption.
The projects developed as an evolutionary path in the way of building, which allowed the concept of passive building to be translated into an architectural solution in full harmony with the surrounding environment.
ITC Forti
SLEEPER
Curved like a person with their back lying against the wall with their legs forming an arc and resting on their heels SLEEPER is an unusual-looking bookcase that appears to be precariously balanced but instead, thanks to the backward position of its center of gravity, is particularly stable.
LAMA INCROCIATA CROSSBLADE
Two metal blades cross overlapping and merging together.
Two simple shapes, two lines when viewed from the side, that intersect to form an apparently complex figure.
Two “linear volumes” that create a three-dimensional structure whose dynamism is emphasized by the shadows generated by the overlapping of the intersecting blades. CROSSBLADE.
FOo, the magic mirror
FOo is a hi-tech device that hides behind the appearances of a mirror.
It is a home automation and scalable system that allows you to manage numerous parameters related to the environment in which it is located (applicable in homes, stores, hotels, spas, etc… ) and interact with users.
NORTHERN LIGHTS
Northern Light is a lamp that recalls Norwegian Nordic traditions, not only through form but also through function.
In fact, the lampshade in addition to being inspired by the sinuous shapes of the northern lights is designed to contain and conceal a small projector that when activated projects northern lights onto images on the ceiling and walls.
Panchina CUT con porta bicicletta
Towards the end of 2020 we received a commission to design a bench designed for public gardens.
We presented 2 proposals, a wooden bench and another in metal. The commission, however, wanted something “zero maintenance” and asked us for a stone bench, perhaps one-piece and without a backrest.
With that said, we propose a bench characterized by a continuous curve.
he design was appreciated and a quotation was requested for it. Needless to say, the bench turned out to be too expensive, at least from the customer’s point of view.
The goal became to design a stone, one-piece bench that would cost as little as possible but still be pleasing and different from others on the market.
I remember thinking: now I draw a parallelepiped and then make it different by working by subtraction. At the end of the process the CUT bench was born , characterized by a cut (the subtraction) that, however, besides being an “aesthetic sign” is also a functional addition, a bike rack.
LAMPIONE STYLO
In 2010 (or shortly before, I don’t remember the date exactly) we were asked to design streetlights for public gardens.
We did a research to realize an idea of the design of the most innovative streetlights around. Most were composed of the “pole” and the “head.”
Some, the most successful in our opinion, were designed as if they were composed of one piece. We started from there to arrive at a very minimalist and, as far as we know, still unpublished design.
Our proposal consisted of a lamppost with a rectangular cross-section, sort of an inverted “L.” Then the study was not followed up until late 2020 when the request was renewed.
We decided to (re)start from where we had arrived more than 10 years earlier only that, in the meantime, streetlights similar to the one we had envisioned had already been marketed.
After a brief reflection, we decided that instead of going down a new road, it would be interesting to continue on the one we had laid out by going further.
We modified the design of the lamppost by inserting some “deviations” from the “path (the ‘L’) that make the whole more dynamic.
VILLA VATICAN
VILLA MORI
VILLA RONCOVISI
VILLA SAN BASTIANO
Rocca – Ludovico Ariosto Museum, Castelnuovo di Garfagnana (LU).
Napoleonic Museum at Villa San Martino, Isola d’Elba.
Private home, Monsummano Terme (PT).
Shoe factory REG, Monsummano Terme (PT).
Private home, Capannoli (PI).
Abitazioni private Gruppo Europa, Monsummano Terme (PT).
Ex Hotel Hermitage, Montecatini Terme (PT).
Agricola Gloria
Shoe factory MADAF , Monsummano Terme (PT)
