Nel Blu, dipinto di Blu!
Young Architect Competition, Honorable Mention
Art in Nature > Local materials, traditional constructing system
Art Ateliers and Museum > “Flooded caves” as an exhibition space
Culture Center and Food > Dialogue with history, contemporary materials
Public space > Meeting place and connection between different architectures
Art in Nature: the wall as an exhibition space
The long path that leads to the castle, is sinuously creating a design along the slope. The points where this line changes direction, the rest areas, have been redesigned as a deformation, a continuation of the same path, creating wider spaces in which to enjoy the landscape, but also areas for artistic installations. A succession of steps that marks the long journey and prepares the visitor. The areas of exposure are designed thanks to the technique of terracing, a technique widely used along the slope: the removed earth is reused for the creation of the subsequent terracing, and the stones, used for the construction of retaining walls.
The beams thet connecting the two stone walls, as well as having a static function, make it possible to install hanging artworks.
Culture center and food: textile volumes in dialogue with history
The existing buildings as foundations for new architectures: two volumes, whose architectural languages are inspired by local architecture, simple, pure. The first, as an addiction over the building next to the prison: a new event space for the community with two floors for exhibitions, conferences, refreshments and events for the community of Favignana.
The second one is a restaurant, a final “exhibition hall” where art rises, and people can taste it. Both volumes, glazed, are covered with a textile membrane, of the same color of the local stone so that during the day they assume the monolithic aspect of the stone, while at night they light up like lanterns, almost recalling the ancient function of “military semaphore”. The Ancient and new alternate between day and night.
Art ateliers and Museum: the sea as part of exhibition spaces
In the island of Favignana everything talk about the sea. A continuous and infinite background in continuous movement with the passing of the seasons and of the time. In a place like a prison where the sea is an escape route for freedom, the project wants to bring the sea inside the architecture: a new flooring material in coloured waxed steel that changes chromatically, based on the “Intensity” of the sea, identifying different spaces inside the building. It is able to hide electrical sockets and sometimes design seats, door and window linings in a continuous change according to the needs. The vaulted rooms, the arches, the large and small spaces refer to the caves of the island, a “flooded architecture” in which the visitor experiences a sense of loss and wonder.
