Casa del Nuovo Inizio
Project Type
Housing and Landscape
Location
Arborea, Sardinia, Italy
Year
2024
Collaborator
Anson Zhang and Cooper Wang
Professor
Luca Ponsi
Studio
4th Year Abroad
Our project reimagines Arborea’s reclaimed land as a self-sufficient community for refugees, using a modular “loop-by-loop” system that fosters cultural exchange, collaboration, and belonging. Through adaptable construction, communal workshops, and inclusive design, it transforms underutilized land into a sustainable model for integration while revitalizing Sardinia’s vacant agricultural landscape.
By exploring the social and historical context of Arborea, Sardinia, focusing on its transformation under Mussolini's regime into a hyper-grid “Bonifica” (reclaimed) land intended for agricultural development and Italy's food supply. Over time, urbanization and technology-driven agriculture have led to population decline and significant demographic shifts, creating a “vacant” environment waiting for something new to happen. The Italian peninsula and Sardinia geographic locations have made it a key site for refugee migration, serving as both a transit point and a temporary haven. However, this influx places immense pressure on governmental resources and infrastructure. In response, this project envisions a self-sufficient living community on Arborea's underutilized land. While unappealing to locals, this land holds great potential as a foundation for refugees to rebuild their lives and establish a sense of belonging.
Our proposal introduces a "loop-by-loop" system, fostering a centripetal force to unite individuals from diverse cultural, social, and linguistic backgrounds. This system emphasizes collaboration, enabling refugees to build, work, and thrive together by adding workshop, communal and assembling spaces. The construction manual book will be provided to each individual or family empowers them to construct their own homes, balancing the needs of both individuals and the government.
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The modularization way of building prioritizes cultural diversity, offering flexibility in design and avoiding the confinement of refugees to uniform, small living spaces. By integrating inclusivity, self-sufficiency, and cultural expression into the design, this community serves as a sustainable and harmonious solution to address the challenges of refugee integration while revitalizing Arborea's underutilized potential.
