The project develops before and during the demolition phase and focuses on what is considered the end of a cycle, thus transforming the linear system into a circular one, a construction site into a mine
The project is the result of research that started in 2017 on behalf of BASIS Vinschgau Venosta, a new social activation hub set up in Silandro within a former military base.
The project develops before and during the demolition phase and focuses on what is considered the end of a cycle, trying to find opportunities, directions or resources in this area before everything is turned into waste matter, thus transforming the linear system into a circular one, a construction site into a gold mine.
All rationalist military architecture is based on modular systems, building sections that are repeated over tens of metres to form a parade ground. The buildings are characterized by a compositional repetitiveness on virtually every scale and level, a feature which for us became one of the focal points of the project. This architecture offers the presence of elements and systems with dimensions and features that are repeated such as windows, marble, ventilation systems and cladding which become new modules for us, new systems to be used in the creation of new surfaces and structures
Our task aims at uniting architecture, design, ecology and economy through the development of a design project that, almost like a form of hacking, is part of an ongoing process through the way it changes and mutates. As often happens in recent years, the project is not identified with the final object or objects, rather it identifies with the process itself
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Unlike the land on which it is built, a building undergoing demolition is worth virtually nothing: its walls, its installations and all its parts are about to become rubble, inert material and sold/disposed of by weight. The reclamation and transformation of the material both before and during the demolition phase is the starting point of this project for a number of reasons. The first of these is to reduce the impact of such materials on the environment both because they will become “waste”, and also because their transport, logistics and the waste of energy related to these activities has an enormous impact.
With the transformation and implementation of a range of processes, it is possible through small actions to transform the demolition phase into a real workshop that combines design with production.
The transformation of such materials can be carried out following a wide range of developments or directions: from the reuse of existing elements to create surfaces and buildings to the creation of materials or material compounds, to the development of new transformation processes. All exclusively on site.
Managing this process at the local level has multiple objectives, of which the main one is environmental. If applied systematically, this automatically generates a second advantage in terms of savings on the purchase of new material.
Another key point of this project was the initiating of non-linear processes and participation at a number of levels. Since this project requires collaboration, knowledge and experience, we have devised it so that it does not become a simple “material” resource but an opportunity for debate and collective development involving creative professionals, skilled local craft, cooperatives, associations, businesses and schools.
"Studio GISTO’s research focuses on the relationship between space, energy and territory, trying to draw up and promote reuse models that go beyond the simple rhetoric of sustainability. Through an approach that combines architecture, design and high-end craftsmanship studio GISTO creates specific territorial models. In every area in which it is asked to intervene, it analyzes a specific condition from the “energy” point of view and develops a series of projects that have the unique value of being open prototypes intended to be implemented.
The fundamental idea is to follow the transformational procedures in contexts such as construction sites or buildings in the process of being demolished and grasp their material, human and cultural potential through an analytical path that often takes the form of a workshop, an open and horizontal teaching opportunity"
Silvia Franceschini
The idea at the heart of the “Multiplo” project is that of raising awareness and spreading knowledge of design and participation practices that can run parallel to existing ones.
The purpose of this publication is to present and develop new ways of collaboration between creative professionals and craftsman, promoting possible alternative production systems and design ideas while paying particular attention to environmental and ecological sustainability.
Our project is a pretext for discussing and thinking rationally about potential alternative production systems that maximize the potential of the materials present on site.
This project requires the identication of possible resources within linear supply chains, through a series of transformations capable of making use of these circular processes.
The essential purpose of this publication is therefore to communicate the importance of planning and design even in those phases of the process that are usually considered marginal, such as demolition, logistics and transport, thereby stimulating awareness and interest on the part of everyone towards reclaimed and re-purposed resources and materials.
"We rely on a demolitions expert and we break everything into tiny pieces and yet, the most elementary logic from an ecological point of view would require us to follow the path of re cycling and reusing: reusing is even more ecological than recycling itself. Here is the rst reason for the work undertaken by studio GISTO: it takes a different perspective. It is the viewpoint of the explorer, of the ethnologist, who wanders among these ruins, re ects, photographs, studies mankind and the value it gives to things. In this way these portions of territory that have been de-territorialized, removed from the community and abandoned to insigni cance, regain value.
The second point of interest is the drafting or drawing up of a manual on how to reuse the durable materials that emerge from these particular gold mines. A manual, as the name indicates, is something to keep in your hands, at your ngertips from which to work on form and with which to transform. It is therefore not a question of marrying the economic approach with the ecological one or vice versa but rather one of accepting the challenge of merging them in a new perspective which Felix Guattarì called “Ecosophy”: an ethical-political expression between environment, social relations and subjectivity, which offers an end to the era of throw-away objects, relationships and individuals which have outlived their usefulness."
Francesco Galofaro
The purpose of this publication is to present and develop new ways of collaboration between creative professionals and craftsman, promoting possible alternative production systems while paying particular attention to environmental sustainability. Our project is a pretext for discussing and thinking rationally about alternative production systems that maximize the potential of the materials present on site.
This project requires the identification of possible resources within linear supply chains, that make the process circular through a series of transformations. The essential purpose of this publication is therefore to communicate the importance of planning and design even in those phases of the process that are usually considered marginal, such as demolition.
It is possible to download the free versione of this book from the page "ABOUT" of this website.
Alessandro Mason, Matteo Giustozzi, Alice Cazzolato
Maria Teresa Scarabello
Studio GISTO
Andrea Pusineri, Yuke Yan
Enough: The Architecture of Degrowth, Oslo Architecture Triennale, 2019
The state of Art of Architecture, Triennale di Milano, 2020