The urban layout of the project recognizes in the Giudecca island the presence of two heterogeneous scales: the one of the dense fabric on the North side of the island, and the more sparse one of the industrial precincts overlooking the Laguna. The project acts a sort of “microsurgery” in the former industrial area, alternating deep transformations (by refurbishment or new construction) to slight modifications of the existing buildings and open spaces. The ex-Junghans precinct is thus opened up to the city, donating to it a new outlook on the extraordinary Laguna landscape, with a long square which overlooks the garden of the existing school and a new canal which crosses the south residential fabric. The project tries to establish a contemporary relationship with tradition and the uniqueness of Venice’s urban landscape. If the complexity and the historical stratification of the city are often deformed by the pink lenses of its tourist image, the resistance to architectural Kitsch has to find sophisticated strategies, which force us to look with new eyes to the problems of modernity versus permanence.
