A DOOR TO VENICE
Venice, Italy | 2009
The water, the pedestrian character of the area, the recovery of an architectonic stair were the strict and precise conditions of this public call for proposals, which the project had to observe in order to meet the need of a fluidity of movements in a city that excludes, for its nature, the cohabitation with cars. We have imagined the circulation of vehicles as a liquid, which should caress the Venetian canal banks without altering the city’s original functionality. Acoustic and green barriers shall try to regain also more visual privacy of the closer surroundings, so as to establish the best possible natural separation from the traffic spaces. In fact, from the perspective of the Canal Grande’s and the Fondamenta di Sant’Andrea’s banks the acoustic shields will restore that kind of isolation that the Venice strongly demands. Our project increases as much as possible the green areas and especially on Piazzale Roma’s side that facing Rio Nuovo. Here, the lines of strong centennial live oaks form already a beautiful natural barrier. The circulation inside the large square was conceived of a kind that guarantees a separation of the pedestrian flow, which is currently still subordinate to the vehicles’ needs. The ambition was to re-establish a closer pedestrian contact between Piazzale Roma and the city. Venice, by its nature, has always been pedestrian.