aldo cibic: a campus in the fields at rethinking happiness

house boat of the ‘venice agri-techno valley’ image © designboom

italian architect and designer aldo cibic has been invited to participate in the 12th venice architecture biennale ‘people meet in architecture’ curated by kazuyo seijima.

‘rethinking happiness’ is a research project on new possible communities. it is composed of 4 big models showing 4 different projects, a total surface of 40mq: 1. a campus in the fields – venice agri-techno valley 2. rural urbanism – shanghai 3. new communities, new polarities – a town in the alpine foothills 4. superbazaar – on the outskirts of milan

more than 40 people have been involved in the project: architects, designers, sociologists, agronomists, energetic consultants, models makers.

aldo cibic presents the project to designboom portrait © designboom

‘by ideal projects, I mean a project approach that attempts to generate an improvement in the quality of life of people on the social, economic and environmental levels. the great frustration that can be sensed on many sides comes from the difficulty in understanding which actions we can be involved in to reactivate the sensation of being part of a process, in which we are doing what is best for the future of our communities.

many of the themes, problematic issues and critical points on which we need to work are there before our eyes, every day. just to name a few, they range from problems connected with security (personal, nutritional, economic, energy) to themes of the landscape (greenery, nature, agriculture, but also urban and industrial peripheries), to the problem of refuse and, upstream, the issues of recycling and models of consumption, as well as the situations of emergency regarding young people and senior citizens.

there are also critical nodes that can be transformed into opportunities: one emblematic case, and an embarrassing one for italy, has to do with our country’s relative inability to encourage tourism; in a country with such a wealth of unexplored potential, a great deal of work can be done to rethink models of development in a more up-to-date way.

creative action in a multidisciplinary perspective consists in producing, with respect to the reality we can observe, ideas, reflections, proposals capable of outlining specific design processes to address multiple themes, to develop in-depth, detailed project briefs.

this way of working is more like the production of a film than the traditional professional approach of the world of architecture, urban planning and design, in the sense that there is not necessarily a client who commissions a project. instead, there may be, for example, a group composed of economists, sociologists, architects, designers, urban planners, landscape designers and interested citizens, capable of proposing specific projects that address one or more theme areas at the same time, to produce the entire project cycle by considering both the more conventional aspects of the project, and the activation of social and economic dynamics.’ aldo cibic

‘rethinking happiness’ model 1:100 image © designboom

1. venice agri-techno valley. the venetian lagoon offers amazing landscapes and incredible biodiversity. a young group that works on innovative start-ups connected with new technologies decides to utilize a large agricultural property surrounded by water, as a settlement where about 250 young people can live and work. this leads to the possibility of developing a new campus model, in a situation of nutritional and energy self-sufficiency: agriculture, vegetable gardens, tourism and technology can thus coexist in the same environment.

sketch of ‘venice agri-techno valley

project elements:

1. house boat hotel 2. pool 3. main square, casone center, open air restaurant, meeting lounges 4. volleyball and basketball 5. the big vegetable garden 6. residence 7. workshop 8. camping and bungalow 9. water silos 10. orchard conference center 11. farm house and logistic 12. farm house bed&breakfast

main square, casone center, open air restaurant, meeting lounges, house boat hotels image © designboom

house boat image © designboom

house boat hotel image © designboom

residence image © designboom

close-up image © designboom

orchard conference center image © designboom

venetian lagoon image © designboom

camping and bungalow image © designboom

detail image © designboom

aldo cibic about the project (italian only)

full credits collaborators: chuck felton, tommaso corà, luigi fumagalli, susana chae, dario freguia, silvia conz, andrea argentieri, carolina chini, caterina rosa, daniela ventura, franca bosia

models created by 1:100 (luca stalla, francesca fezzi, roberta bacco, mattia bianchi, martin bickler, alice cillara, isabella falchi, paolo ceresato, riccardo rossi)

in collaboration with: maya brittain, mariano zanon, valeria adani, francesco d’onghia, martina facci, ilenia fossati, alessandro frigerio, federica gramegna, melisa indra, michele novello, lucia pongolini, antonio prinzo, silvia redaelli, diana rizzoli, anna maria stefani, giovanni corà, lavinia xausa

graphics: elena xausa

design: chuck felton

concept: cremonesi consulenze (renato cremonesi, andrea fornari, stefano zerbato, stefano chilese, laura cremonesi, andrea finezzo, carlo cremonesi)

see the other three projects curate by aldo cibic at the venice architecture biennale 2010: rural urbanism – shanghai new communities, new polarities – a town in the alpine foothills superbazaar – on the outskirts of milan