Market for L'Aquila
In collaboration with Vera Shur with the guidance of Shigeru Ban & Danielle Etzler
L’Aquila, Italy was devastated by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake in April 2009, killing over 300 and leaving 50,000 homeless. The damage was so severe that the historical city center emptied out, transformed from a vibrant urban space into a ghost town. Since then, the city has seen a very slow rebuilding effort that is estimated to last 15 years. This project is a proposal for a new modular marketplace for the city center that could support street life culture in parallel with the city’s rebuilding effort. The new market would possess an iconicity that would attract tourists, critical to revive the region’s economy, and provide a lively place for L’Aquilans to gather. Easily assembled, reassembled, and transported, an aggregation of architecturalized umbrellas (housing a bar table, market table, or bench) creates an articulated arching space beneath and an undulating form above, in reference to the prominent Appenine Mountains of Abruzzo. A series of full-scale mockups were developed. Testing various materials ike PVC, CPVC, bamboo, fiberglass, we developed an easily transportable, demountable umbrella system. After testing various materials, we selected easily-sourced materials like PVC pipes and plywood, and we developed a simple alongside waterjet-cut steel joinery that could flat pack easily for shipping.