Isola Quadra
The archetype of the lighthouse is analysed, dissected and de-constructed in its constitutive elements.
A massive floating precinct challenging the scale of the Concordia relict, contains the reassembled identities.
Emptied and doubled, this enclosed plinth, creates an unusual horizontal dimension, a new longitudinal layer interposed between the sea and the sky.
A deep cut through the landscape gently leads and prepares the spectator to the new spatial and symbolic experience.
It structures and organises the project, it balances full and void, while offering calibrated views towards the landscape through openings and overlooking platforms.
The core of the lighthouse is stripped down to its minimal features.
A light semi-transparent volume standing in the sea contains the distribution element leading to the lantern room, while the guardian' s house translates in a monolithic block immersed in the vegetation.
New public programme is hence injected: a polyvalent space on the ground floor directly communicating with the memory garden, guest units and an accessible roof terrace on the upper levels.
The project does not indulge in any formalistic variations on the archetype, yet it abstracts and preserves its symbolic and architectural qualities.
It aims at exploring the tension of fragmentation, the relationship between open and enclosed, the spatial public potential that resides in the lighthouse.