Untitled Document

The program for the project is a leather shop/studio with living space. The site is an alley entering the Piazza San Lorenzo. The alley sustains much pedestrian traffic and serves as a link to a foot network within the dense buildings. The objective was to maintain this and use it as an opportunity for display. The design incorporates the path spatially into the shop/studio. The line of distinction is blurred between them while the integrity of function is maintained for both. The living space is on the third level and open to the studio below while providing necessary privacy. It became an interesting study of dealing with extreme public to private in a minimal amount of space while attempting to maintain as much openness as possible.

Vicenza, like many European towns contains an older section, as well as new. In most cases they are separated by walls which were erected for protection. For many years these walls provided a limited amount of space to the town. This created a density within, leading to the quaint scale so beloved today. As the town expanded the scale changed. The walls are the definitive border between the two scales. The objective of this project was to design a pedestrian gate which provides a smooth relationship between the two. The transition was created by manipulating the path time to create the impression of more or less space. The path time isn't necessarily related specifically to distance, but more to time and experiences. It became a a study on distance, time, and the perception of space. Space can be extended by increasing the amount of time within a space. The opposite is also true.