Recovery of the former quarry
Vecchiano (Pi), Italy
1996
National competition
The quarry is a significant presence in the landscape both for its size and for the exposure of its walls, with its characteristic reddish red color, in direct sunlight, and forms the physical backdrop of the views towards the north of the city of Pisa.
Another element that spatially organizes spatially the overall scene of the portion of territory between the city and the mountains to the north, is the ecclesial complex of Campo dei Miracoli; the natural backdrop on which it is located is its spatial reference, an articulation necessary for the enhancement of the plateau in its extension, where the complex exceeds the dimension of urban relations to reach the value of organizational presence in the geography of the territory.
This relationship between artifact and orography suggests the enhancement of the quarry as one of the fundamental subjects of the scene: placed orthogonally to the longitudinal axis that aligns the Duomo to the Baptistery, it is clearly perceived through the windows that open onto the internal gallery of the latter, noting the relationships it establishes with the Campo dei Miracoli.
At the same time, from the inside of the quarry, the observer, reaching the same altitude, perfectly grasps the ecclesial complex at its horizon.
But the perception and the dialectic between the two subjects occurs even when the observer, at the altitude of the countryside, frequents the territory to the West and perceives them simultaneously.
What we want to reiterate is the value of the presence of the Vecchiano quarry in the definition of a new settlement spatial with geographical values, all measured on the basis of perceptive principles.
architectural design: Quattroassociati
