Embrace the past, brighten the future.
Poveglia has a deep, albeit dark, history. After serving a myriad of grim purposes, the island now lies abandoned: the nature overgrown, the architecture fallen to ruin.
This project is a proposal to rethink the relationship to the past. Rather than ignore and bury a grisly history, the project embraces the island’s past as a symbol not of something grim, but of perseverance and dedication to the pursuit of knowledge. The old has an influence on the new, and the mixture creates an advanced university dedicated to learning.
The layout of the existing ruins form a grid. A new pattern is overlaid onto the site, aligned to the historical grid. It was created by melding together a decoration found on windows of buildings on the island and an old Venetian pattern. The new pattern represents the appropriation of the history locally on the island as well as the greater scope of Venice into a modern amalgamation. By positioning pathways and building footprints to the new pattern, the organization of the university remains true to the historical spatial system of Poveglia. As the new buildings spring up from the historically steeped pattern, cohesion is created between the old and new.
As a result of an analysis of the movement and views of Poveglia, a main pathway runs vertically through the island and smaller offshoot paths align to the historical grid.
The campus contains everything a top university needs to flourish. A large library on the south end provides a view over the entire island and contains meeting spaces, a cafe, and work areas. It is a space where students can study or socialize and tourists can gaze in awe from the viewing platform. The north island boasts a professional size football field and an Olympic size swimming pool, that both people from Venice and students can enjoy. Also around the north island are a running track, sports courts, an indoor gym, and an auditorium. At the center of the campus there are exhibition spaces, an amphitheater, and a visitors center where tourists and students alike can learn about the history of the island. The campus embraces the existing nature, while also taming it. The new pattern aligned to the historical grid informs landscape lines, which act as public spaces, water features, and organization of the present foliage.
The elevations of the new structures were created from extrusions of the historically imbued pattern to create iconic silhouettes. The island’s dark past and beautiful, unruly nature is reflected directly onto the buildings through the facades. Photographs of the island that represent the overgrown nature and dark history were entered into an image-altering script. The result abstracted the original, disquieting images into a colorful, circular motif, which mimic the pattern that has been used throughout the project. Where present, the multicolored circles act as apertures, so when light shines through, beautiful light arrangements appear. In this way, the project embraces the grim history and projects a new and encouraging glow to the future history of the island.
The design intends to strengthen the identity of the fishing village, using the boats as an inspiration for the coastline. Equity in infrastructure, access to the public realm and views for all user groups dictate the vision for design. A myriad of public buildings, plazas and open spaces create an inclusive environment. The modular residential unit uses a flexible structural grid. This sustainable community will use tidal energy, rainwater harvesting, water transport, pedestrian/bicycle friendly streets and an equality-driven living. The aim is to create a future-ready, resilient community, rooted in local context with aspirations of a global metropolis.
