Del Verde
Concorso internazionale d’idee per il recupero e la valorizzazione della Torre archivio del Palazzo Ricca, 3rd prize | Napoli, Italy
concept
Our vision for Torre Archivio of Palazzo Ricca, starts from an overview on the whole city of Naples, where every façade, along the narrow streets of the historical centre, hides and protects a lively world. The proposal aims to create an interior vertical garden, a green walk through the old building till a new belvedere. The new function of the structure refers to the history of Naples: its most old and historical centre, lacking in parks, developed its public spaces in small green courtyards: green oasis hidden in the core of the buildings.
The development of Torre Archivio takes into a proper consideration the unique configuration of the Tower and his spectacular metal structure, once used as shelves for the archive of the Foundation (Banco di Napoli).
The project respects two fundamental conceptual principles:
Addition: gardens, as a simple addition to the metal shelves
Temporality: the intervention replace paper with plants operating a "conceptual shift" : from paper back to his origins, plants.
project
The intervention keeps the original metal structure, simply adapting it to the needs of the plant placement, working on addition and subtraction: addition of walkways and stairs, and subtraction of shelves and galleries segments, in order to create, respectively, a continuous path through the different floors/gardens and spaces for resting.
The garden becomes part of the building, taking advantage of the existing structure, which is lighter and more rarefied when the users get close to the top. According to this simple principle, in the lower levels will grow the taller plants, dense and heavy, leaving for the highest floors the small flowers and herbs of the vivarium.
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functional project
The main function of the Tower as a botanical garden is declined in the various levels evolving, along all the high of the building, in several specializations.
On the ground floor there will be the access to the structure and the main entrance on Via dei Tribunali.
In the first lever there is a small forest. The space is free and versatile, designed to host events, concerts, debates. Above, an area with tables where you can have a picnic in nature; then two levels for reading area and two levels for relaxing area come before the vivarium, to get, at the end, to the panorama.
The light becomes essential in the path: the walk come to be, de facto, an ascension from the dark interior of the tower, to the outside sunlight in the upper level, a new panoramic view upon the whole Naples.
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conclusions
The redevelopment of Torre Archivio in a vertical garden aim to transform this abandoned tower into a new landmark, symbolizing the work of evergetism that the Foundation have always carried.
It will establish a bond with the city, based on the historical and cultural discovery of secret gardens inside the old courtyards of the baroques palaces, providing at the same time a green public space, to relax, to set events, or simply to enjoy the silence of the plants.
