The project has been developed by orto and f.a.t. two young collective of architecture currently based in different cities of Europe and Japan.
The project is located in the city of Marsala in Sicily island.
The aim of the competition was rethinking an extensive area in the northern part of the city along the beautiful Mediterranean seaside.
Approaching such a large public space project forced us in defining a specific strategy to solve the most urgent problems of the area.
The first aspect that drawn our attention has been the great potential of such a place west orientated towards the Mediterranean sea and so near to the downtown district.
Our proposal tried to reveal this potential beauty with a 3 step open-strategy.
-Lighting grid. A 6x6m pattern made by vertical lighting stakes creating a geometrical and artificial order on the natural site. This grid helped us in designing proportioned public spaces and a fundamental light-tool providing constant light on the site, decreasing the insecurity of the area and allowing night-time events for the city.
-Artificial topographies filter. Our proposal placed three small topographies along the existing street in order to generate a natural filter between the high rise urban development and the beautiful and natural seaside.
-Concrete traces and platforms. We precisely designed the pedestrian access to the site, following the main existing access to the area. Along these concrete walkways we placed some concrete/mineral platform hosting different programs like a basketball court, a skate-park, a place for events etc… We imagined these access as geometrical lines crossing the area marked by concrete landscape walls.
Beside the urban and architectural strategies we planned for the site, our proposal faced the amount of social and thuggery problems caused by the progressive abandonment of the plot.
The grid brings light on all the site, the topographies allow people to enjoy the natural view of the Mediterranean sea preventing cars from parking and invading the new park and the concrete platforms offer spaces for people staying together according to their desires and their needs.
We overlapped these coherent elements defining a clear structure for a regeneration of the entire site. Our idea wasn’t designing every single aspect of the new park because we’re convinced that such a project needs to be opened and prepared to future users’ changings.
We imagined this project as an open-process: a public platform where everyone could use and develop the space according to his needs and desires.
