GREEN LINES – A HANGING BRIDGE

Year : 2015

Function: A new green space for the city and interior fittings of Ex-Mercati Generali.

Site location: Ostiense-Garbatella, Rome.

University / Institution : Roma Tre University, Faculty of Architecture.

Nationality: Italian and rumen.

City and date of birth: Terni 26-05-91, Orbeni 16-06-1988, Capua 16-11-1989, Cagliari 14-08-1990

Contacts: dada265@hotmail.it, alex.ciobotaru16@gmail.com , raffi89@live.it, alessandrapusceddu.90@gmail.com

Tutors: Emanuele Von Normann, Maria Grazia Cianci, Giovanni Bucomino.

Brief Description of the project: (honorable mention at the Simonetta Bastelli Prize 2015)

“A white huge bridge, so big that haven’t any basis for comparisons, that doesn’t interact with anything in its sorroundings. But if, for example, you imagine it hanging in a large wood…in a forest of oak trees or large trees…would it have anything to say?”

Thus our journey begun, with the image of the big white bridge that connects Via Ostiense and Garbatella immersed in a sea of greenness. The way to achieve that goal was not an easy task: in the beginning, as learners of the subject matter, we thought it was necessary to fill every space with something, no matter if vegetal or mineral…wrong choice! How to create a united system in a large area? How to merge many different aspects into a single project?

The input came from what it has always been: Via Ostiense, its guideline.

Taking its direction as a reference, we created a system of lines that could be repeated endlessly, whatever the area of application was and whatever obstacle is encountered, including buildings. The second aim was, with this new space organization, transmit the sensations that were in our mind: plane trees (Platanus orientalis) first, with their monumentality, would be perfect not only to have a continuity of plant species with the Ostiense, but also and above all to give the main mass required to create the effect of a suspension bridge. The choice of ilex trees (Quercus ilex)came for or the same reason, the continuity with via Ostiense, but also to have a contrast between deciduous ad evergreen species.

Another major obstacle was the design inside the new project of “Ex-Mercati Generali”: tight spaces opposed to large squares, imposing buildings on the back and a relatively low view on Via Ostiense. What we did was nothing more than allow ourselves to be guided once again by the plant species: Cercis siliquastrum and Prunus pissardi for a dialogue with the lower structures and for a reference outside/inside the area, Acer campestris that, losing leaves in winter, give breath to the narrow spaces between the buildings, and four exotics species to mark the main entrances.

From this basic model we multiplied the lines to define, in the part closer to the bridge, leafy rows for a park/orchard, and, throughout the reminder of the project, the rows of shrubs with various sensory characteristcs (color, pitch perception, perfume, etc.), both on land and in a system of tanks at different heights. Different parterre, sitting, tanks systems and leafy rows of different species, interact together to create a single system, a single basic, almost never changing idea: raise a bridge to make it float above the trees.

 

Author: Giada Antonini Cencicchio, Alexandru Andrei Ciobotaru, Alessandra Pusceddu, Raffaele Stravino.