Biennale  Venezia 2016 – Padiglione Venezia

Since its very foundation Porto Marghera evokes a series of contradictions: a propeller for Venice’s economy but also a backroom to the historical city; a territorially defined logistic center but also an alienated part of the lagoon, a man made place which is hostile to man.

In order to build a vision for such a place we need a honest look, based on a careful observation of the present situation: the soil of Porto Marghera is largely contaminated and it requires massive investments in a context where funds are scarce; local demographic projections foresee stagnation; progressive abandonment of industrial monoculture left large built volumes empty; the port-centric vision is becoming obsolete for the geographic location of the port itself.
Starting from these premises, which are the opportunities that lay in a place like Porto Marghera? Which possibilities are offered by 100 years of inorganic investment on this territory?

A vision that can drive the area to a new phase of development must propose occasions, starting from mapping, analyzing and cataloguing the existing material heritage with a renewed attention.
The vision proceeds on a methodological rather than formal level, also in its articulation in phases. Following a strategy founded on some design actions (redeem the soil, connect the margins, domesticate the built volumes), the project proposes a mapping of the opportunities that is not summed up in a single image, but rather in a series of territorial frames that tell different spatial configurations and transformation scenarios.

Client: Biennale Architettura 2016, Comune di Venezia
Architects: BDR bureau (as bam!)
Team: Alberto Bottero, Simona Della Rocca, Fabio Vignolo, Niccolò Suraci, Alberto Geuna
Collaborators: Elena Zanet
Photo: BDR bureau
Site: Porto Marghera (VE), Italy
Year: 2016