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Commendation
Komfort Award

Wrapping Urban Memory

Part 2 Project 2008
Naofumi Takaoka
 University of East London London | UK
This project, for an Institute of Archaeology within the old city of Palermo, Italy, reuses a context of half-demolished buildings as urban memory, providing a re-composition of inhabitation for the site. The project begins within an investigation into a fragment of the film ‘The Sacrifice’ by Andrei Tarkovsky where a fireplace is reinterpreted through a delicate construction of thin plaster pieces to discover a nature of fragility. The ambition in Palermo is to carefully wrap existing buildings, forming a space between the new and old walls. The investigations underpin the design for the construction process as its form and interior evolves from the qualitative and quantitative history of the lost city.


This is the work of a quiet yet very talented student of architecture; a student whose fluency, ambition, and clarity as a designer are remarkable and one whose rational rigour is tempered by strong instinctual moves. The proposal for an Institute of Archaeology in Palermo organizes a complex brief within a series of distinct austere buildings and spaces where a measured reticence evokes a quiet expression of form for the storage of memory. Two existing buildings on the site are ‘cleaned’ are contained in the project, set like anchors they are the first artefacts to be installed in the Institute. This is a bold collection of buildings whose additive presence would be a welcomed and significant addition to this quarter of the city.

Tutor(s)
Mr Mark Hayduk
Ms Rumi Kubokawa
2008
Schema model: The Institute of Archaeology in Palermo, Italy.
Works of paper: The conceptual cubic is made out of one sheet of paper.
Works of plaster: An investigation into a fragment of the film ‘The Sacrifice’ by Tarkovsky where a fireplace is reinterpreted through a delicate construction of plaster pieces to discover a nature of fragility.
Site: The project is located in Palermo, reusing a context of half-demolished buildings as urban memory.
The Institute of Archaeology: Existing buildings are wrapped by the proposed buildings to create space between new and old walls.
The white concrete external walls: The external character of the building is to present an austere and quiet presence.
Ground level plan: The complex programme is simply laid out into 5 detached different boxes.
Lower ground level plan: Simply providing connections and circulation within the 5 boxes.
Perspective view
Section: Glazing is located the between the thin structural beams to allow for top light in the rooms.
Main structure construction process of the Artifact building/ The public viewing room.
New and old walls: The old stonewalls are preserved and enhanced by the wrapping of the new pre-cast and in-situ concrete walls.
Library section towards artifact building: The existing walls provide thermal mass for books.
Perspective view of reading room in the library: The thin screens of local Italian travertine to allow for a soft light for books.
Panoramic view
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