The main idea of our project was to create a city inside a
city. The task was to propose a way of living in the old Tobacco Factory and we
thought of an accessible place for everyone, something flexible that requires every
person/client a personal touch, some mobile minimal sleeping boxes.
From
the urban analysis of the area we could notice the high density of the built
zone. Because of the high wall that surrounds the factory and because of the
heights of the blocks of flats, the streets seem really tight. Our first
thought was to enlarge them by removing the wall and create new spaces: one
filled with vegetation like a vertical garden in the Southern area, and the
other one , on the East side, converted into a green market which would be of
great use for the inhabitants nearby.
By opening the space we connect our small new created city,
not only based on a sleeping zone but full of social activities with the actual
city. Another connecting element is the main street located on the South-East
side of the factory.
In order to create a gradual connection between the city and the building we tried to split the edifice into three areas, but in way that would make it seem like a dismissal of the limits between the two different scale cities, from the most public zone (in the south) to the private one ( in the north).
Because of the existing structure, we chose to keep the
pillar network and to develop a free space inside, without fixed walls and with
mobile panels, which would let people create their own space.
We found it necessary to create holes into every floor , in
order to take advantage as much as possible of the natural lightning , to bring
it inside the edifice and also to allow
and improve the visual connections between people.
We began with analyzing the place at a big scale and ended
up with the detailed analysis of the actual sleeping boxes, the main concept of
this project. We agreed to allow people create their own place, either social
or just for sleeping ,and the most
flexible thing that could accomplish turned out to be the sleeping box, which
can be folded and easy to carry, by just dragging it to the place one wants. By
personalizing the design of the sleeping boxes with different drawings we also
create an exhibition hall.
By creating a city inside a city we thought of developing
its use, more than the general one , the
one of a temporary accommodation building. We thought of what would happen
inside this building and we found it a good opportunity for people to interact
, to begin new friendships and to develop their social lives.
