My Thesis Project stemmed from the research around the Contentious Heritage of fortification walls and the architectural control it holds over a city, even when still standing as a ruin today. The project, based near Milan’s Spanish Walls, takes influence from the wall’s ruins around the city and adds a contemporary twist to restoration.
I am proposing several new build street interventions on the site of Corso di Porta Ticinese (Porta Ticinese Street) as well as two buildings: The Faculty of Ceramics and The Exhibition Arcade on Via Vetere. The collection of buildings and interventions aim to directly refer to the Spanish Wall ruins through its materiality of brick. The student housing and studios within The Faculty of Ceramics houses the pottery studio where students are able to repurpose and create new crafts through clay, referring to the natural state of brick. Further down the street, The Exhibition Arcade displays pottery as well as act as a protected gallery for any elements of ruins from the area.
Through the design of new brick elements and the repurposing of the material, the architecture of control can be given to the people of the city today, redefining Milan’s contentious background of its fortification walls.
