New communities for the old Salemi:
Keeping traces of past

"Non-places", are a product of the ideal of the super-modern society, which can bring it to a point of a place with a lack of identity, relation, interaction and history recognition, due to social aban-donment.

Location
Salemi, Italy

Status
Architectural Design Studio

Typology
Housing

Year
2019

Salemi, a town in the south-west part of Sicily, was at the risk of becoming a "non-place", what especially influenced it, was the earthquake which happened in 1968. For the city this meant a drastic change in its history as well as the livability conditions and population. Considering these circumstances, a revival was essential, planned by implementing a strategy that would be the turning point for the spirit of the town. The task was to design a retirement complex, for the international elderly population that would come to Sicily. Incorporating new open spaces together with connection and linking points, create a coherence and makes the city constantly evolving.

The design approach tends to combine tradition, safely as well as interaction with the historical context, as a driving factor. Due to the peculiar conditions of the surrounding, it was crucial to study the condition and state of the buildings, in order to assure what amount of intervention was needed to be performed. Specific and unusual is the terrain configuration, pavement treatment, and environment of habitat, as it is surrounded by vineyards which offer a special and not an everyday view and accommodation. The already existing buildings, and traces of the earthquake, had already given the city a flow of respiration in a multidimensional way. It is about the combination of the buildings, passages and terrain changes implementation that gave this "non-place" the potential of hosting and experiencing a revival of its soul.

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