Fili d’Unione

An Invitation to Fili d’Unione
Community, in the broadest sense, is the condition of sharing. Sharing space, materials, stress, joy, food, time, atmosphere… Rebuilding Communities then, is to foreground the common characteristics of a community by strengthening their ability to share.

During a natural disaster, community is formed by collective stress; by sharing external crises and events, overcoming them by integrating them into their communal radius. Architecture plays a crucial role in the administration of these social bonds.

In the midst of rebuilding, our proposal begins with a central space – a point of refuge, un punto di attraco – that allows for an individual or group to position themselves in the midst of movements, talks, performances and activities, to witness a full panorama of community.

An image springs to mind: that of a neighbourhood delicately woven together, like rows of washing line stretched out between households, commonly found around townships in Italy. From this simple, digni ed act of sharing space and material, a common goal is achieved. Fili d’Unione – threads of connection, of union, the weaving together of places, people, sounds and communities. Other images emerge: those of tents of refuge, the sight shared by families who have lost their homes to a natural disaster; more than a monument to the past, however, an uplifting symbol of sails and waves, a cloud of cloth. An image of lives uni ed by the sea settles in the mind.

Wood, jute cloth, light and sand are the basic materials of our proposal. Vertical timber elements provide the structure and electrical services for events, while the tight threads of jute cloth (preferably recycled from agricultural or maritime services) provide enclosure for events, rigid surfaces for projection, eating, as well as individual and group seating. These elements are uni ed by moveable wooden seats and the sand upon which they rest. These inexpensive materials with simple details provide exibility during and after construction, with clear design variations based on unforeseen changes in budget or labour time. After the event, the timber and jute cloth canopies, along with the furniture, can be separated into smaller units, to populate future beaches, backyards, and public spaces elsewhere, creating an extended forum for continuing the discussions of rebuilding community.

In our communities, we share space.
The truck driver makes room for the cyclist, a street is taken over by a market only to be reclaimed by a protest. Everyday consists of tiny battles for and exchanges of space. Rebuilding communities is suggestive of a process to re-establish social bonds between individuals and the community in space. These relations can be seen in the spontaneous and anonymous artefacts of the city.
Our proposal brings to mind a neighbourhood delicately woven together, like rows of washing line stretched out between households, adorned with laundry, commonly found around townships in Italy. It constitutes a primary scene – Fili d’Unione – displayed in the simple, digni ed act of sharing space for a common goal.

In our communities, we share materials.
Wood, jute cloth and sand are the three basic materials of our proposal; materials shared by lives of the sea. Vertical timber poles provide the structure and electrical services for events, while the tight threads of jute cloth (preferably recycled from agricultural or maritime services) provide enclosure for events, surfaces for projection, eating, as well as individual and group seating. These elements are uni ed by moveable wooden seats and the sand upon which they rest.
After the event, the jute cloth and timber canopies, along with the furniture, can be separated into individual units that populate beaches, backyards, and neighrbouhoods elsewhere, continuing the discussions held here.

In our communities, we share stress.
Community is formed by collective stress; by sharing external crises and events, like earthquakes and natural disasters, overcoming them by integrating them into their communal radius. Architecture plays a crucial role in the administration of these social bonds. This is true from the rst walled cities that used timber and stones to formalise a boundary to prevent intrusion, to the hippie communes that found atmospheric refuge in the expansive geodesic domes of Buckminster Fuller.
In the midst of rebuilding, our proposal too is an open and unifying limit; a shared point of refuge that alludes to the tents of relocation after disaster, acting as a symbolic frame for new dialogue and the strengthening of social bonds.

In our communities, we share an atmosphere.
Sound and smells travel. This is nowhere more apparent than on the beach, where the ocean waves have therapeutic effects. Atmospheres intersect the individual cells of society, forming an intimate microclimate.
Our proposal offers a common ground where voices can emerge from and coalesce within the local atmosphere. Within this shared atmosphere, we exhibit and receive inspirational ideas – ideas that ll us with (commingling) breath.

In our communities, we share time.
Community activities and experiences unfold in shared time. Beneath the jute cloth are a series of formally and informally organised seating areas and programes, creating a dynamic performance over the course of the evening.

In our communities, we share space, materials, atmospheres and time.
Connecting these programmes is a central space – a point of refuge, un punto di attraco – that allows for an individual or group to position themselves in the midst of the evenings movement and activities and to visualise a full panorama of the feeling of a community. The radial layout provides individuals the opportunity to be drawn to anything that attracts their interest or curiosity.
Our proposal, Fili d’Unione, creates an opening, allowing for moments of potential within which new ideas emerge, disappear and transform. It’s a proposal, we hope, will connect dedicated design and construction teams with the community and events of Demanio Marritimo.

Fili d’Unione creates an opening, allowing for moments of potential within which new ideas emerge, disappear and transform. It’s a proposal which, we hope, will thread together dedicated design and construction teams with the community and events for Demanio Marittimo, KM-278.