Designed by Tomas Ghisellini Architects, the first prize winning proposal for the Domus Vitae, a new city morgue and social facilities complex, is aimed at being a new architectural presence with a continuous but porous body. The design includes balconies, porches, patios, terraces, overhangs and suspended volumes which capture, tame or magnify natural light. These features create spaces for which the atmospheric quality is supposed to be a decisive added value. More images and architects’ description after the break.
A large green area, included between scenes and architectural settings, regenerates the fascination of the wonderful Delizie (marvelous country houses with huge gardens) of the Este Family, reinterpreting one of the urban issues perhaps more intimately rooted into the mental image that people keep of their city. The border wall is carved and made literally transparent; passersby, on foot or by bicycle, intrigued by the opportunity to spy on the large green space from the outside, becoming part of the experience. The historic Ferrara walled garden, from a territory of separation and exclusion, evolves into a social space to meet, a collective and fluid urban carpet.
