ATMOSPHERE | descreptive project log

 

 

 

 

“The development of ecology is an event unexempled in the historical relationship between man and nature. What the appearance of ecology changes in the relationship man/nature is linked, as well as a systemic view, thus globalizing of livings, to the perception of a completeness: life doesn’t go beyond the boundaries of the biosphere. Terrible revelation: Earth, as a region for life, is an enclosed space. It’s a garden. This observation, as soon as it is stated, refers any human being, passenger on the Earth, to his own repsonsability. Here he became a gardener”

 

Gilles Clement

“La saggesse du jardinier”

 

ATMOSPHERE is a metaphore of organic life on Earth, ephemeral living layer which protect us from the unknown. 

The project idea is to transform the cloister into an ecosystem. The ecosystem of the planet, where the species meet each other and coexist, feeding on primary resources, soil, water and air. The boundaries which separate it from everything else are thin, ephemeral, but enough to put up a strong protection that safeguards the life within.

 

ATMOSPHERE is an element with a strong visual impact, able to transform the space just with its own presence: a transparent sphere, which seems to fall down slightly on the inside of the court, almost like an unknown planet, suddenly creating a space of sociality and new vitality.

The bottom seems to sink below the ground for several feet, harboring the central portion of the garden court. Two layers make it up, an outer and an inner, thus making a cavity that holds the structural tie rods.

Four great portals about 6 x 2 meters allow to get in from the access in the existing porch. Another opening was placed in zenithal position and it can be closed according to the occasions and weather conditions.

 

ATMOSPHERE is made of PVC, it will be carried deflated and placed by a crane into the court or, if it is possible it will be brought through the entries of the museum. Once laid on the ground, the cavity will be inflated with air to take the final shape. The base will be attached to the ground by steel anchors. Once inflated, the volume will be self-supporting and there is no need for continued air insufflation. 

 

ATMOSPHERE will be opened and closed, a gathering and meeting place, able to accommodate a large number of different species of plants and in which various cultural activities will be carried out.

 

ATMOSPHERE for music, with good acoustic performances due to the curvature and surface soft material.

 

ATMOSPHERE for art, in which the space can be changed and freely interpreted for any type of installation, providing for use both during the day and night.

 

ATMOSPHERE is an element capable of absorbing light and showing its reflections inside, colouring itself by shades of the sky.

 

ATMOSPHERE gives light and colour to the facades and arcades of the cloister through artificial LED lighting, causing interesting colour effects.

 

ATMOSPHERE keeps its autonomous nature, there isn’t a strict dependence between old and new. It 's an element that can be added and removed, allowing full flexibility for the use of spaces, setting respectful of historical context, ensuring the full preservation and without affecting the original appearance.

 

ATMOSPHERE preserves existing paths in their current position, keeping the cross pattern on the central space that hosts the well. At the same level of the pavement will be raised the surrounding green soil, and the indoor volume will host vegetation. As an alternative to the paths, the area within the perimeter of the sphere can be completely covered with grass. 

Outside, on the four corners of the court, is scheduled the replacement of the turf with shallow pools, which will receive the rain water that flows along the curved walls of the sphere. The water becomes a generating element, from which everything arises, and on which everything is reflected.

It is created a biological cycle, in which sky reflections on the spherical surface and  facades of the historical complex reflections on the water, contribute to make an uncertain atmosphere, suspended between water, earth and air, in which the natural elements coexist harmoniously and, indeed, each one seem to exist as a consequence of the other one in a cyclic process.

 

ATMOSPHERE is green. It defines its limits and acts as the terrestrial biosphere, which gives life to what is inside. A garden as an "enclosed space". The plants, however, should not be understood as finished objects, isolated from the context within which they exist. The volume in which they are placed is their habitat, animated by a current which allows organic growth of natural vegetation, giving higher importance to the process of transformation of the garden rather than its completed and predetermined state. The rules of nature are the only ones the garden will have to undergo, and it will be in constant motion and will be capable of feeding itself. 

It will be important to ensure biodiversity, the mixture among different species, not in a merely quantitative sense, but taking into account the single individuals. It should be a place of passage and encounter, the final destination of a trip, the end of a journey which blend cultures and experiences, in which the movement will be the engine that will bring new wealth.

 

ATMOSPHERE provides these feelings, hosts a mix of plant species and it is free not to respond to a shape previously determined but in a perpetual flow, like a form of life.