A Connecting Line

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Abstract

The design intent stems from the identification of some problems and the attempt to solve them.
The Vega area in Marghera has enormous potential linked to its position, therefore to the quick and direct connection to Venice and the immediate proximity of the industrial area with the relative possibilities of use. In conjunction with these positive aspects, there are numerous negative elements that make the area an isolated area, little frequented and scarcely valued. These critical points can be summarized by the following three concepts: a strong horizontality that tends to divide the complex in a static and oppressive way; use of the area limited to working hours, which does not allow complete usability throughout the day; a clear division between level zero and level one. These three disadvantages were the basis of the reflections that led to the conception and development of the project illustrated below.

Horizontality has been considered, rather than as a negative element of clear and static separation, as the key concept of the entire project: in fact, the narrow and long belt that includes the Vega and reaches up to the Pili area, that is, at the mouth of the bridge Liberty, is an element that can allow, thanks to its fluid and elongated dimension, to develop a strong sense of dynamism, of travel, of movement, which is opposed to the sensation of stillness perceivable today, and which leads to an efficient connection between Mestre and Venice.

To accentuate the sense of travel, it was decided to host functions related to passage rather than permanence in the area concerned. According to this concept, a multi-purpose sports center with indoor and outdoor playgrounds was created in the Vega 2 area. The goal is to create a system that, with its many functions, opposes the system that came to be created in the Vega 1 area, where attendance times and users are those related to work needs.

Project

Location

The horizontal strip which was gradually being formed is an element of separation and connection at the same time: of separation between the industrial area of Porto Marghera and the residential area of Mestre, and of connection between Mestre and Venice.

The horizontality is the element that allows to accentuate both aspects, and it has been realized in different ways: from a linear point of view, through the construction of long and not very permeable walls, and volumetric, thanks to the buildings themselves or to the conception of Finally, the third critical element, namely the separation between levels, has been accentuated to the extreme, i.e. until the creation of two different, large systems, which extend to include Vega 1 and 2. A level, at zero altitude, it is pedestrian, allows access to the various buildings and is strongly characterized by the presence of walls and embankments that direct the gaze and the distance; the other level, at the level of the first floor, is a mainly green and visually free system, since, at the end of it, it allows you to divide Venice and the lagoon in the distance. The project does not aim to eliminate the numerous problematic aspects, but to accentuate and exasperate them in order to obtain a new and unexpected effect and spatiality.

VEGA Marghera, Venice, Italy