Tour-in Heritage | Turin, Italy | Unit 21 | 2018

Awarded Distinction for Design & Distinction for Thesis

 

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Torino’s first post Industrial Landscape
During the 70’s and 80’s Torino’s thriving industries were hit by a huge oil crisis that halted the city’s once thriving automotive industry. This increased the levels of unemployment and the population started to decline. The city council have identified Tourism as a key industry which has the potential to boost the economy and re-invent the image of this post-industrial wasteland. It is hoped that over time Torino will gain reputation as a cultural hub within the northern Italian provinces, rivalling the cultural Disneyland of Verona and Milan.
The project seeks to re-introduce tourism to the once thriving City of Torino from a key site that lies at the intersection of the existing tourist infrastructure within the city. A strategic yet considered approach to heritage demonstrates how the architect has the potential to spatialise a new tourism industry by building on the existing heritage and value systems of Torino which can be enjoyed by the resident and tourist alike. The project exemplifies how tourism could be used as a device to promote change across the City by establishing a set of design principles that could re-shape the identity of Torino.

 

                   

 

          

       

 

 

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The project is sited over three large Piazza’s: Piazetta Reale, Piazza Castello and Piazza Teatro Regio, within the Old Roman Centre of the city. The site is currently listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the greater Residences of the Royal House of Savoy listing. The project provides a critique on the bureaucratic systems associated with the listing and activities associated with significant UNESCO World Heritage landmarks by introducing dynamic change across the site whilst attempting to satisfy three further UNESCO Criteria: (vii) to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance in the form of choreographed micro-climates; (viii) to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth’s history, including significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, significant geomorphic or physiographic features by showcasing and recording the geological shifts on site; and (ix) to be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of communities of plants and animals by promoting rapid evolution of a localised hawk and falcon specifies. These specific design features act as a bargaining chip to appease the governing councils that oversee and manage new development on sites of significance.

 

 

 

 

 

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