The reasons of form, hic et nunc. A project for the Villacidro landscape in Sardinia

Abstract

Within the framework of the research agreement between the Department of Civil, Environmental and Archi- tectural Engineering at the University of Cagliari and the Municipal Administration of Villacidro, the research group “Architecture, City, Landscape,” coordinated by the author, has initiated a study aimed at the archi- tectural and urban regeneration of the eastern edges of the town. This scientific consultancy stems from the profound crisis affecting the Villacidro area and the progressive socio-economic decline that has resulted from it. The working hypothesis reinterprets architecture as a specific narrative field and assigns to form the capacityto make the rituals of life visible, undertaking a process of reconnection and reconciliation with the landscape. In this sense, the intervention operates through both large and small-scale dimensions, linking the critical transformation of the territory to an elsewhere. More specifically, the study develops through the identifica- tion of a central theme - the adaptive reuse of an old railway structure into a cycling station - promoting the regeneration of a particularly critical urban area and conveying the dimension of travel, not only cultural but also physical, toward a renewed recognition of the land and its forms (the gore irrigation channels, the alluvial fan, the agricultural plain, the mountain outcrops).

This rewriting of the context thus seeks to recompose what has been fractured, showing how the imbalances generated by the socio-economic crisis can be addressed starting from the recognition of existing environ- mental features as non-negotiable elements of value. This “capacity for adaptation” fosters and consolidates inhabitants’ interest in the landscape, understood both as an objective form and as the result of the interaction through which individuals interpret it based on their own knowledge. In this way, echoing Gregotti’s thought, the landscape can be recognized as a specific domain of architectural relevance.