Autore: Diego Barbarelli
pubblicato il 17 Maggio 2020
nella categoria Concorso Giovani Critici 2020
Testo edito pubblicato su The City and the Skin, I.U.V.A.S Firenze, 30 gennaio 2020
Key words: Urban stratification; Time; History.
Abstract
The skin intended as a “crust” represents the physical ideal of urban stratification over time, a gallery of frozen urban portraits in special envelopes different in shape and size. Thinking of the skin as an architectural shell is nothing more than an allusion to a clear linguistic/formal message and therefore to an interface between container and city, a reference to a precise moment in time. The theme of the wound becomes therefore fundamental, namely where there is a cut in the skin it is possible to see the layering as a compositional image of urban revelation. It becomes a precise point where the naked eye becomes aware of the time that has been and will never be again. The wound highlights the weight of time that relentlessly burdens the city, becoming a witness in an architectonic as well as historical aspect.
The skin as a “crust” represents the physical ideal of urban stratification over time, an infinite succession of urban substrates belonging to previous generations. This crust reflects the architectonic shape and the extinct techniques of former times. The state-of-the-art image of the city is partly compromised by the separation between form and function, that is the link between the community and the physical city. It must be said, however, that cities continue to express an autonomous identity of their own, a jargon, a particular humor, as if each city possesses an atmosphere or a personal veil; a skin.
This atmosphere, the generic skin of the city, melts within herself in every neighborhood and small village, giving a face to all the streets and alleys, engenders an emotional rather than a geographic map of the urban context.
The city could be thus defined as a gallery of urban portraits frozen within specific shells that vary in shape and size. Thinking of the skin as an architectonic envelope is nothing more than an allusion to a clear linguistic/formal message, and therefore to an interface between city and container, a reference to the possibility of returning to a specific moment in time.
Consequently, the concept of the wound becomes fundamental. Where there is a cut in the skin it is possible to see the stratification as a compositional image of urban revelation. A precise point where the naked eye becomes aware of the time that has been and will never be again. The wound highlights the weight of time that relentlessly burdens the city, becoming a witness in an architectonic as well as historical aspect.
DATI PERSONALI:
Nome: Marco
Cognome: Vallario
Data di nascita: 17/07/1992
Professione: Architetto