Resilience - University of Miami School of Architecture

kilometro rosso
Both theorecal structures purport to address both center-urban and peripheral
condions. An interesng example of the peripheral condion can be
seen in Jean Nouvel’s Red Wall project in Bergamo Italy. Located along the
A3, an eight-lane limited access highway, the site consisted originally of an
exposed grouping of low-rise research buildings. Nouvel’s scheme lines the
A3 with a kilometer long red wall roughly five meters high. The wall creates
structure at the scale of infrastructure, a landscape piece which stands up to
the highway and creates protecve shelter from it. New research buildings are
aligned perpendicular to the wall to create a series of comfortably scaled open
spaces. The central open spaces are more park-like with lawn and scaered
canopy trees, while the landscapes into which the wall terminates have been
developed as constructed marshes.
1 exisng urbanizaon
3 freestanding commercial space linked to highway
2 autostrada introduced
4 red wall added blocking wind and noise, creang south facing space
5. project views, Lotus
The wall, a landscape intervenon of post-industrial scale and character thus
mediates the effect of the highway and creates a zone for habitable gardens
and more delicate architecture behind. In this way the interplay between
infrastructure and landscape emerging from the Landscape Urbanist toolkit
creates space which can be urbanized with the structure and scale more commonly
addressed in New Urbanism. The dramac length of the red wall suggests
the linear and indeterminate character of the autostrada, but in fact has
a beginning and end, and carefully located penetraons. This provides the
transion in scale and spaal definion which allows transformaon of landscape
and infrastructure into garden and building.
5 commercial campus forms in protected space behind wall
7 commercial ‘village’ develops along wall
6 buildings infill along wall
8 exisng urban fabric grows, connecng to highway uses.
6. par sketch, author
7. site redevelopment sequence, author