SITE 01 : Runner Up

Project 0118

Brunetti, Davide | Politecnico di Torino

Project Statement

The site is divided into three levels, each implementing more or less defined functions and each targeting a more or less specific users’ segment. Accesses to the Sitting-out Area happen on two of the three levels, they are well defined, not likely to be radically modified and represent, along with the three-levels segmentation of the site, a starting point from which the design process can evolve.

The two accesses put the site in communication with two slightly different urban realities each with its own background and actors that will eventually benefit from the site potential. The segmented nature of the space and the way it relates to the surroundings, encourage the detection and profiling of specific user groups: construction workers, children, elderly citizens and members of the Filipino community represent the four categories that shape with their customs and needs, the forms and functions that the Sitting-out Area must implement. The scenario in which the activities of these four personas’ profiles take place is that of the Central District in one of the most densely populated countries in the world: it is clear the need for fluid and livable negative spaces that act as a background, disappearing behind users’ actions and spontaneous appropriations.

The areas that are not touched by the vertical distribution of the site are turned green: lawn and a few trees provide a comfortable place to walk or lay down in the shade, a friendly playground on the upper floor and an inviting entrance at the opening on Kin Sau Lane. Stairs connecting one level with the other are entirely replaced with a system of seats and steps, fully dissolved in the site morphology, that immerse the Area in a vibrant and playful dimension while providing formal coherence and continuity with the tables and seats on each floor.

Small commercial activities placed at the core of the Area, help animating the environment, exploiting the segmentation of the site to offer well targeted services. On the upper level, a permeable structure circumscribes a tree: it characterizes the fulcrum of the children’s playground and is dedicated to the youngers, with the aim to allow social interactions, physical activity and experience nature as involved in the playing dimension.