Mediterraneo

MEDITERRANEO

Date: 2022

In 1979 the architect Christian Norberg -Schultz wrote a famous essay, Genius loci. Landscape environment architecture. According to the architect, the Genius Loci is that phenomenological character in which man must come to terms to acquire the possibility of living. The aim is that the architecture must respect the place, integrate with it and be as compatible as possible with the place.

The islands of the Mediterranean represent the most shining example of the relationship between the natural environment and the millennial impact of the man who has inhabited them and continues to inhabit them. The chromatic liveliness that characterizes these places is one of the characteristics that distinguish the simple way of living and in direct contact with nature, the latter also the main source of sustenance through fishing activity and later also supported by nature tourism.

The simple living of these places is also manifested through a typology of poor architecture of the highest formal quality, object of studies in the 1930s by the architects Luigi Cosenza and Bernard Rudofsky who drew inspiration for the creation of a new approach to modern rationalist instances in the direction of a style attentive to the site as in Villa Oro in Via Orazio in Naples. The composition of simple modules placed side by side in width and height becomes the distinctive character of the fishing communities who, when the family unit was expanded, would increase their home by a module if necessary.

Respect for the place occurs through a constant and delicate sedimentation of the building, where the most courtly architectural pieces of the local nobility are able to coexist characterized by the extensive use of the internal courtyard, of Roman origin, and the poorer serial constructions of the fishermen, brightly colored to be distinguishable from distance. The prevalence of whites is linked to the thermal characteristics of the Mediterranean area, white has the particularity of repelling radiation and heat, helping to naturally cool the internal environments.

Furthermore, the urban agglomerations are also distinguishable by a spontaneous adage on the site where there is a constant horizontal reading that prevails over vertical constructions such as bell towers and churches. The presence of streets of very limited width distinguishes an urban construction typology that ranges from Morocco to Mediterranean Spain. The narrow streets, as well as the white walls, help to dissipate the heat of the hottest months with large areas of shade.