ISPACE, 2020
Photography: Corrado Griggi

I had been working on the project titled ISPACE during my internship at Davide Macullo Architects. The project consists of 10 timber pavilions that reveal the hidden corners of the magical valley of the Swiss Alps in Rossa. The first volume was realized in October 2020, and the other 9 are planned to be realized in the second quarter of 2022.

The project was supported by the foundation RossArte, the municipality of Rossa, and the Swiss National Park Val Calanca with the collective aim to transform the valley Rossa into the center of arts and culture to foster the economic independence and to prevent depopulation of the region.

I was in charge of designing the structure, experimenting with forms and structural possibilities under the guidance of Davide Macullo. 12x12cm wooden beams have to be stacked on top of each other while self-standing.

The idea was that every volume triggers different sensations for example, a sense of warmth and embracement from the sphere, agitation from the aggressiveness of the pyramid with sharp edges, and a sense of weight, and compression by the inwardly carved wall of the third structure, etc. Another focus was to come up with geometries based on primitive forms that play with bodily perception. There is narrow, steep, precarious, or grounded interspace each with a different degree of tension that one can sit on, lean on squeeze into, and hang on. 200+ variations were made to discover apropriate forms.

10 structures will be installed alongside the pathway in the forest of the valley in Rossa, Switzerland, thereby visitors are welcomed to a journey of emotions, where they encounter a variety of distinctive feelings that are contrasted from each other. The project encourages people to perceive how influential space is on their moods as well as discovering the rich biodiversity of the valley.