Redesigning Green Villages Zambana, Italy

Redesigning Green Villages Zambana, Italy MIT Mobile Experience Lab MIT Design Laboratory A collaborative project between the Agenzia per lo Sviluppo di Trento (now Trentino Sviluppo), the Provincia di Trento, Italy, and the MIT Mobile Experience Lab, part of the MIT Design Laboratory. Research and concepts were developed within multidisciplinary workshops conducted in Fall 2006 and Spring 2007. Goal of the workshop The main goal of the design workshop was to cre- Bioindicators Renovated Buildings atively redesign the village of Zambana, Italy, from Sensors an urban planning angle, as well as from an archi- Piazza Striated Landscape tectural and new-media design perspective. This exercise not only gave specific direction for the Recovered implementation of the project, but opened up a va- Waterways riety of ideas, scenarios, and concepts that need to Core and Shell be further explored. Construction The proposed redesign of Zambana that this book documents is not primarily about retrofitting buildings or reducing pollution levels; although these are both included in our proposal, they are secon- dary to the larger goal of allowing the community to grow alongside Transportation its landscape, actively participating in its environment. The final goal of this project is to creatively reimagine Zambana and Special Topics to give design directions to transform a village into an iconic green - Bionic indicators and sensors village of the twenty-first century. - Renovation of buildings - Striated landscape - Recovered waterways - Core and shell construction - Transportation Collaboration The workshop has been done in the framework of a strate- gic partnership and collaboration between Trentino Sviluppo, the Provincia di Trento, Italy, and the Mobile Experience Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This collaboration concerns the research on sustainable devel- opment of cities and communities and exploring how to design technologies and societies in order to foster sustainable devel- opment at all levels. Sustainability Extended definition of sustainability In keeping with Trento’s vision of the redesign, we came up with a definition of sustainability that expanded upon the conventional elements of environmental consciousness to fit the rural situation of Zambana. The new definition is threefold: 1. Includes a close link between the past, present and future of the land 2. A deliberate interaction between per- sons and the environment 3. A conscientious consideration for local and regional vegetation, materials, com- merce and services. This unique definition serves as the prem- ise for the objectives, proposal, implementation and realization of our redesign. Methodology The design workshop had two major pha- ses over the period of two academic se- mesters: a diverging and creative phase and a converging and design phase. Diverge and Create Converge and Design The first phase consisted of assembling a The second phase consisted in recruiting variety of MIT and Harvard students and a smaller number of dedicated students researchers from various departments and researchers to focus on a final pro- and research fields. After recruiting and posal. selecting students, we began the design workshop by dividing students into mul- A multidisciplary team collaborated to: tidisciplinary teams. MIT Media Lab new media experts collaborated with urban a. Explore The class was composed of students and planners and designers; architects colla- b. Design faculty coming from various universities borated with visual artists; mechanical en- c. Present and parts of the world: gineers collaborated with business school Greece, Germany, Austria, United States, students. Israel, Argentina, Brazil, Korea, Columbia, Mexico, Italy, Chile, Australia and India. Each team worked on its own and then in collaboration with all the other teams. We asked to each team to: a. Explore and investigate b. Create and imagine c. Present Field trip We also had multiple missions in Italy: we explored the site, we interviewed the mayor, the architects, and the urban planners involved in the project, and we worked closely and constantly at all levels with the Trentino Sviluppo and the Provin- cia di Trento. History of Zambana The village of Zambana lies along the Adige who occupied the site immediately after mountain’s edge. A cable car gave direct River in the province of Trento in northern the ice age glaciers receded. The village access to the villages and ski trails above Italy, at the base of Mt. Paganella. clung to the mountain as a refuge from the and provided steady traffic through the seasonal flooding of the river valley, but village, which had grown in population The location of the village is historically sat uneasily under cliffs of brittle dolomite to 600. But disaster struck in November and geographically relevant. It lies at the fractured by natural spring water and tec- 1957 when a large part of the mountain fell base of Val Manara, the ancient trail which tonic activity. onto the valley above Zambana. leads from the flood plain to the mountain above. The valley is the product of a fault Throughout history, the Adige valley has line in the dolomite limestone, evidence of been witness to military and political a long geologic history. movements as it lies along the natural route from Austria to Italy. By the ear- This forested valley was an important ly 20th century, the village was thriving, hunting ground and source of wood for growing around the 16th century church the stone-age inhabitants of Zambana, with picturesque avenues leading to the Compounded by heavy rains, a landslide Only a small population remains in the ori- began, filling the town with material from ginal Zambana, supported by agriculture. the valley above. The government ordered The population of the ‘new’ Zambana has an evacuation of the village, which was to grown, primarily as a suburb of the nearby be rebuilt at a site 2 km away, on the other city of Trento. side of the Adige river. The village was deemed unsafe for habita- tion by the government, and the majority of the buildings were leveled. A protective wall was formed around the few buildings remaining, with the exception of the 16th century church which now sits in a small park at the base of the mountain. Accessing Zambana Currently, residents traveling to Trento drive by car to the outskirts and take a bus to the center. With the proposed plan, the public transportation would improve and hopefully eliminate the need for the automobile portion of the commute. Re- sidents could instead take the new alter- natives available to them, thus decreasing the pollution created from automobile ex- haust. Reconnecting Zambana to the Region of Trento Keeping in mind our definition of sustainability, the cable car This transportation plan calls for a multi-modal point outside of would connect Zambana and Zambana Vecchia to improve the the village center where parking will be available and which will communication between the old and new villages. The cable car connect to the planned pedestrian, bicycle, bus, auto, boat and would have three stops: one at the train station of Zambana, one cable-car paths. The multi-modal station is intended as parking at the entry to the new Zambana, and the last in the village of for visitors, as well as residents. Paganella. The cable car would also provide a good connection between the regional rail and bus (from the inter-modal point). Zambana in the Region Local Access to the Pedestrian Village Ideally, Zambana would be a pedestrian village, and the desi- gnated parking area could instead be used for shared electric or carpool vehicles. The multi-modal point will be the intersection of the automobile, walking, biking, bus, and boat traffic. From the multi-modal point there will be a strong pedestrian connection to the piazza that can continue on up the mountain. In addition, the cable car will connect the bus to the rail station. Striated Landscape Urban Natural Landscape The preserved buildings will appear as Buildings having historical value will be sculptural pieces in the large green park restored and retrofitted with sustainable that is the proposed landscape. One way features, while the rest will be replaced to integrate these newer structures into with new, green structures. the existing landscape is to follow the vo- cabulary of an agricultural pattern. By mimicking the patterns of a cultivated field in built forms, the urban fabric beco- mes an extension and exaggeration of the surrounding farmlands. Core and Shell Core and Shell Constructions Inside the shell, the “core” inhabitable Between the core and shell, open spaces In the built areas, these foldings function apartments (protected from the elements could be used to accommodate vertical as part of a double skin structure. The up- by the shell) have greatly increased design micro-farming structures, possibly even per waves comprise an exterior shell that flexibility. Residents of each apartment vertical vineyards. This is in keeping with encloses interior, habitable spaces. The would have control over their own heating the culture of Zambana, where many inha- shell provides weather protection and on requirements to allow for the most effici- bitants currently have backyard gardens. one side uses a solar blind system that ent heating for different occupants, tailo- collects energy and shades the interior or red to their lifestyles. The intermediary space would be used to allows natural light to penetrate the shell. trap air to reduce the cost of heating and On the other side, the planted shell would cooling. In addition, the core-and-shell ar- be a literal extension of the agricultural chitecture saves energy by creating an air surroundings. space that helps to regulate interior tem- perature and ventilation. History as Architectural Narrative Old waterways Existing Waterways New waterways Proposed Waterways Waterways In keeping with the importance of local history in building a sustainable village, we tracked the history of the waterways and roads in Zambana.

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