projects
The fort of knowledge
Mazzorbetto Fort students group 4
Jose Manuel Ballesteros,
Agathe Saint-Genis, Jonida Turani
Introduction
Our Project consists in the idea
of reusing the Fortified place in a potential way, respecting the microscale (the island) and the macroscale
(the lagoon). Trying to extend the possibilities the Mazzorbetto
Fort could offer, in different workshops (business uncubators)
that can be multiplied in the future in the northern part of the island. We
also place in the most important facade of the Mazzorbetto
Island three strong and solid buildings that face the island of Torcello, Burano and Mazzorbo with the function of common spaces and create with
the Fort and the new entrance a little square similar to a venetian
Campo where the “Church” is the Mazzorbetto
Fort.
Sustainable
Development
The design of the workshops
characterized by a double skin perimeter consists of an inner layer made of
a glass electrochromic to avoid glare, and an outer
layer consisting of a low-emissivity glass. This double-skin
is provided with suitable openings to ensure a good ventilation and maintenance
walkways. In the summer the excess heat is disposed through a
natural ventilation obtained by air currents, through the openings on
the bottom of the atrium and in the highest part of the building. To shield the
sun have been designed slat blinds placed on the roof, covered with a
semi-transparent photovoltaic film that allows the recovery of energy from the
sun and plenty of natural light diffused, very useful in art workshops.
Environmental
Approach:
The three main buildings that we
propose next to the fort have a strong relationship with the lagoon. They are like
visual “cannons”, like telescope of the breathtaking view the
lagoon offers in front of the island. The three common spaces (meeting, lecture
and computer room) face respectively the Torcello’s
Tower, the Church of Burano and Mazzorbo
island.
Cultural
Dimension:
The purpose of the project is to reestablish
continuity through embankment curves as a lava flow initially in an organic way
till they meet with elements of the buildings that bear to be translated into
geometric shake that remind elements of the fortified places like cannons and
bastions. The second force is generating a vibrating movement that invading the
green space creates depressions, rises and leaves the sediment in which you
enter the buildings and the various activities hosted in them.
The main building is the fort, which emerges in the center of the garden acting
as a door, you leave through the main path. Next to the fort rise
potentially three buildings which are the meeting
room, the lecture room and the computer room. Their
shape and localization comes from the idea of suggesting one more time the three military bastions and giving them a completely different
character and function.
Identification
of potentiality:
The project represents an
attempt of integration between bioclimatic architectural composition and
discipline as early as the design of the overall layout and arrangement of
architecture, designed in the form of a continuous band of alternating units
and open/covered spaces. The maintenance of embankments, as a result the
space inside closed on itself
enables to keep the winds from the south
which, go through the "holes" of the spaces between buildings ,
creating a natural internal microclimate. The facades of the new cells are
treated with electrochromic glass, which can be
activated manually if necessary to protect themselves
from solar radiation. This mechanism leads to uniformity in the faēade of the
darkening of the windows and the lagoon water.