Studio Genta Architetture
© by Studio Genta Architetture
Viale Venezia 2f, Pavia
INTRODUCTION
The current debate focuses attention on the uncontrolled and fragmented growth of urbanised areas: one wonders what form cities are taking, what their development and consequent fallout is in terms of land consumption, and what the criticalities are on the built heritage. For these reasons, territorial planning, today even more so, plays a decisive role, in order to go beyond settlement dispersion, the outcome of a social construction to which the State and its policies have contributed decisively.
Considering not only the percentage of population in inhabited centres, but also the expected future growth of citizens, it is necessary to reflect on possible alternatives, in order to reconcile on the one hand the need for expansion and on the other hand sustainability in terms of soil permeability and more. Certainly a valid option is densification that leads to targeted interventions on the built-up area, the consolidation of urban voids and the recycling of abandoned areas and buildings.
Urban dynamics, the result of economic, political and social forces, have a major impact on the contemporary city, which is becoming an increasingly elusive and complex reality. The concepts of integration and hybridisation, given the "theoretical restlessness" that overwhelms the disciplines that deal with architectural space, become an important tool for investigating the multiple nature of the existing fabric.
The term "think" derives from the Latin pendere or "to weigh". It is therefore appropriate to give a new weight to the needs of the city and to react to the frequent urban scenarios of abandonment and degradation, both physical and so-cial.
"The theory of being, ontology, brings us to atoms. The theory of relations brings us to the parasite''.
The parasite strategy, and hence the neologism "parasite architecture", responds to the need for reuse of spaces within the city, with the aim of giving identity and voice to places considered secondary by the society that inhabits them. Reversing the process of exclusion, in these areas the use of the existing is encouraged, creating relationships and connections that induce a metamorphosis of parameters, for a new reading of the built environment. Parasites are seen as small or large bodies scattered throughout the city that become catalysts for change.
While a parasite may be a term with a negative connotation, in the case of architecture it enjoys not inconsiderable prerogatives, in that the new individual differs from its host by identifying itself with the contemporary and exploiting the existing in terms of structure, installations and surface area.
It is therefore evident that there is both a physical and conceptual transition from a given form, assimilated with the built heritage, to a contamination that produces a multiplicity of relationships. Architectural parasitism, through the concepts of integration and hybridisation, identifies regenerative places and speaks of the ability to relate and combine different disciplines of knowledge.
The first part of the thesis focuses on land consumption and urban sprawl as pressing issues that city planners must address. In this sense, the European and Italian framework is analysed, emphasising the urgency of preparing a set of shared regulations. A reflection is also proposed on the latest European reforms in terms of architectural and social sustainability, and finally a new type of soil is juxtaposed to this emergency, which is configured - in its broadest sense - as ''built heritage built heritage".
Hence the concepts of ‘’recycling the city'' and ‘‘growing without consumate’’ to initiate studies of alternative routes to urban expansion. The intervention in the built environment, the interception of urban voids, the recycling of abandoned areas and buildings are not only an opportunity to encourage the reduction of land consumption, but also to experiment with new conditions of urbanity. The issues of urban regeneration and addition architecture are fundamental and contribute to the current debate with a parasite background.
“The architectural parasite today denies the prophecy of Blade Run-ner, the entropy that produces scenic ruins; it does not, however, consider unequivocal the tension towards a frozen and unchanging historic centre, which owes much, of its own stratifications, to its 'ancestors'; but urgently calls for reflection on the territories, on the forgotten peripheries in order to put them back into action, into use, without rushing to occupy other space”.
The second part of the thesis reflects in depth on parasitic architecture. The etymology of the term is investigated, introducing an initial comparison with the biological world. In this regard, certain characteristics of this definition, with reference to the na-tural context, are taken up in the design as key elements outlining the mechanism that is established with the host: the parasite aggregates externally or internally, makes its logic prevail or adapts to the built heritage encountered, mutates and evolves. Another stimulating confrontation is with Art, understood in a broad sense. There is, in fact, no clear delimitation between Architecture, Art and Sculpture; therefore, the invitation is to explore other keys of interpretation, which see the figure of the parasite as an urban element ready to bring to light any social discomforts and regulatory deficiencies with the intention of subverting the state of things.
The parasite is also confronted with the issue of urban waste generated by careless design, resulting in residual spaces. It is the responsibility of designers to take in these corners of the city to give them a new meaning, which goes beyond the issue of land consumption and environmental protection and is linked to social well-being. Parasitic architecture is not only able to recycle the vertical or horizontal soil on which it is placed, but precisely with reference to its biological definition, it is able to evolve and reinvent the existing. It is therefore an element that, by introducing a temporal stratification, responds to the need to respect the contemporary identity trait, in which it is possible to recognise oneself as a citizen and a designer.
Architectural parasitism, in this sense, wants to rewrite and question already told stories, generating new senses and significations: it becomes one of the possible transformations of existing identities, leaving open the possibility of new evolutions. There is also a brief historical excursus that demonstrates not only how this strategy is older than one might believe, but also its actual potential in terms of urban regeneration.
The thesis proposes a brief reflection on the regulatory framework, in order to understand whether there is a possibility for the system to open up to this type of intervention aimed at densifying the built environment, improving the quality of the space where they are grafted. In Italy, in fact, it is not so easy to intervene on historical centres, not only because of the already very high density, but also because there are very restrictive regulations on heritage protection. In this sense, it is important to clarify the differences between restoration and recovery and the practice of ''parasite architecture''.
There are different souls that move towards the parasite strategy: on the one hand the will to operate on the city, reasoning on the urban space in continuous evolution, and on the other hand the will of individual designers who operate on the built with the insertion of a temporal and identity stratification. Through the tool of taxonomy, which sees a classification on the basis of the way in which the parasite attaches itself to the built, projects are analysed with the intention of providing a broad case study. We move through case studies that outline the individual's need to change the meaning and form of their everyday living space, to architectures that are a symbol of how the parasite can be a catalyst for social change and cultural revitalisation.