professor alberto francini
spring 2022 ksufcaed most inspiring student project merit award
The project addresses the question of its urban context by directly engaging with the character of Florence. Talking Building investigates the intangible implications in which we experience a place, offering an urban experience at the scale of the city
As time continues to pass, residue of the city's past is left for us to experience its effects. The seeming disorderedness of the buildings and the narrowness of the streets are bi-products of the cultures that have embodied the past and present city, giving its occupants an experience via the process of discovery. In “Towards a phenomenology of Architecture '', Christian Norberg-Schultz articulates the Genius Loci, or “Spirit of Place” in architectural terms. He presents this notion as having a fundamental function in place-making, working with the philosophical idea of phenomenology. Genius Loci is utilized in the project as a point of departure, rather than a complete embodiment, in order to communicate feelings and invoke familiar psychic effects to its users.
