ENG |
There is a very long tradition of inhabited infrastructures; historically, inhabited bridges created a continuity of the urban fabric in discontinuous situations (the bridge is literally a street within). With the emergence of urbanism as an independent discipline, this tradition disappears. Attempts at reviving this trajectory emerged in the 60’s and 70’s with the utilization of overblown architectural scales as a territorial device. From Superstudio to Rem Koolhaas, these strategies were mostly critical projects and apparatuses, pretexts for a new architectural discourse.
The notion of inhabited infrastructures is a way to move beyond the traditional make of city scape (street, urban block, lot, building) and explore inversions and mutations of these four scales of urban fabric, not as a way to erase the city but as a way to invent different ways to intervene in a unique metropolitan context such as Venice. While addressing issues of scale and program, this studio will aim to propose plausible, buildable structures that will react to the unique site conditions and technical realities of Venice.
At a moment when global warming is focusing the world’s attention on alternative modes of habitation, architects are beginning to explore the possibility (and future inevitability for certain communities) of building on water. Rather than ossifying as a mummified ‘museum’ city, Venice will become a precedent for future cities
