Fili d’Unione

Community, in the broadest sense, is the condition of sharing. Sharing space, materials, stress, joy, food, time, atmosphere... Rebuilding Communities then, is to foreground the common characteristics of a community by strengthening their ability to share. During a natural disaster, community is formed by collective stress; by sharing external crises and events, overcoming them by integrating them into their communal radius. Architecture plays a crucial role in the administration of these social bonds. 

In the midst of rebuilding, the proposal begins with a central space - a point of refuge, un punto di attraco - that allows for an individual or group to position themselves in the midst of movements, talks, performances and activities, to witness a full panorama of community. An image springs to mind: that of a neighbourhood delicately woven together, like rows of washing line stretched out between households, commonly found around townships in Italy. From this simple, dignified act of sharing space and material, a common goal is achieved. Fili d’Unione - threads of connection, of union, the weaving together of places, people, sounds and communities. Other images emerge: those of tents of refuge, the sight shared by families who have lost their homes to a natural disaster; more than a monument to the past, however, an uplifting symbol of sails and waves, a cloud of cloth. An image of lives unified by the sea settles in the mind.

In our communities, we share stress.

Community is formed by collective stress; by sharing external crises and events, like earthquakes and natural disasters, overcoming them by integrating them into their communal radius. Architecture plays a crucial role in the administration of these social bonds. This is true from the first walled cities that used timber and stones to formalise a boundary to prevent intrusion, to the hippie communes that found atmospheric refuge in the expansive geodesic domes of Buckminster Fuller.

In the midst of rebuilding, the proposal too is an open and unifying limit; a shared point of refuge that alludes to the tents of relocation after disaster, acting as a symbolic frame for new dialogue and the strengthening of social bonds.

In our communities, we share an atmosphere.

Sound and smells travel. This is nowhere more apparent than on the beach, where the ocean waves have therapeutic effects. Atmospheres intersect the individual cells of society, forming an intimate micro-climate.

The proposal offers a common ground where voices can emerge from and coalesce within the local atmosphere. Within this shared atmosphere, we exhibit and receive inspirational ideas - ideas that fill us with (commingling) breath.

In our communities, we share time.

Community activities and experiences unfold in shared time. Beneath the jute cloth are a series of formally and informally organised seating areas and programmes, creating a dynamic performance over the course of the evening.

In our communities, we share space.

The truck driver makes room for the cyclist, a street is taken over by a market only to be reclaimed by a protest. Everyday consists of tiny battles for and exchanges of space. Rebuilding communities is suggestive of a process to re-establish social bonds between individuals and the community in space. These relations can be seen in the spontaneous and anonymous artefacts of the city.

The proposal brings to mind a neighbourhood delicately woven together, like rows of washing line stretched out between households, adorned with laundry, commonly found around townships in Italy. It constitutes a primary scene - Fili d’Unione  - displayed in the simple, dignified act of sharing space for a common goal.

In our communities, we share materials.

Wood, jute cloth and sand are the materials shared by lives of the sea. Vertical timber poles provide the structure and electrical services for events, while the tight threads of jute cloth (preferably recycled from agricultural or maritime services) provide enclosure for events, surfaces for projection, eating, as well as individual and group seating. These elements are unified by moveable wooden seats and the sand upon which they rest.

After the event, the jute cloth and timber canopies, along with the furniture, can be separated into individual units that populate beaches, backyards, and neighbourhoods elsewhere, continuing the discussions held here.

^in collaboration with Matthew Darmour-Paul, Dika Terra Lim and Chi-Jen Wang