Volterra International Workshop 2017 Part 2

Alabaster Workshop

Alabaster is a type of gypsum rock, it's usually white or delicately shaded and translucent. Volterra has a long history of crafting alabaster sculptures since Etruscan era. Some local even called it "oro bianco" (the white gold). I had a great opportunity to visit our guest professor Andrea's family Alabaster workshop and got a little taste of crafting it. 

Architect Andrea showing us some basic techniques

Before

After: alabaster is a very soft stone therefore we used wood-working tools to craft it.

Volterra Workshop Project

Project name: Acropolis Re-imagined 
Type: Landscape & pavilion
Site: Acropolis, Volterra, Italy 

Entrance perspective

The Volterra Acropolis is located on a very open hill and is directly connected to the park. The idea is to establish boundaries to the site to set up thresholds that can improve spatial experience. These boundaries are in different heights depend on the existing landscape fabrics. Fragments of walls are used to frame views and divide the space into smaller zones.

One path is floating above the ruins in between the Etruscan temple and Roman temple to help visitors to orient better. The other one follows small water canal and the existing Acropolis circulation to create a more intimate experience. Both paths eventually end at the Artifact Garden where it will provide more information about the Acropolis and also display some Etruscan or Roman artifacts. The terrace walls near the exit are tapering around the hills and create a direct visual connection back to the park. 

We used a lot of framing techniques to highlight the ruins and also placed certain walls to re-orient people within the site. 

Team desk crit with professors

Team 2 Final Review

Team 1 Final Reivew

Team 3 Final Reivew

Team 4 Final Reivew

Workshop Reflection:

Although this is another study abroad experience, this time it's quite different than the Barcelona year. The mixed team comp. with other schools and the foreign visiting lecturers are definitely the highlights of the workshop. It's fantastic to learn how architecture is being taught in Poland and how they approach a project. The workshop is well paced and the scope of the project for this year is appropriate and suitable for a 10-day design schedule. The project type is also unique since coming from an U.S architectural education background we don't really get to have an ancient site to discuss. This project sort of serves as a continuation of the summer studio project in terms of dealing with layers of context and the landscape.