DE • FORMA | Barbara Volta

The purpose of this designed installation in the area known as “Fontanigge” is the architectural heritage's recognition of the architectural qualities in its historical, sociological and artistic values for an architectural renovation.
The project proposal aims to focus on the constructive form repeated in the context and its unbreakable bond with it, highlighting the interplay of solids and voids of the original volume and its connections with the visual landscape; re-composing a volume linked to the other Sečovlje saltworks' vernacular buildings located along the Dragogna river and aligned to the riverbank which separates the canal from evaporation basins.

The salt pan house was accessible from the storage inferior level by one access to the saltworks and the other to the canal. The harvested salt was stored at first in the building and then, leaving the second ingress, loaded on sailing boats docked along the canal1.
A walkway is added in the volume between the existing ruins and the proposed CLT installation to evoke this transition, highlighting the “salt road”.
The first entrance is carved in the CLT structure; the second one is drawn on the original position: a limestone frame held up by an installation made of wood, Arundo donax, and ropes. Its form recalls the original 28° roof angle and it is also linked to two ethnographic heritage references.

The first reference evokes the Adriatic maritime heritage: traditional multi-purpose vessels (including Istrian Bracera and Leuto; both with a lateen sail) initially adopted for fishing and carrying passengers or goods and successively for salt transportation.
Vernacular architecture is linked to its function and so the maritime transportation has been fundamental for the saltwork survival, becoming an integral part of the visual landscape since the XIV Century2.
The second reference recalls the wind pumps (“màchine”3; technical heritage).

A crenel is designed in the CLT structure, adding minor cuts for symbolizing the slow deformation into ruins. This metaphor is also used for the two levels rockery with halophyte plants (another characteristic element of the Secovlje Salina landscape).
Aster tripolium, Bellevalia romana, Limonium angustifolium (worth of preservation), Sarcocornia fruticosa, Inula crithmoides and Arthrocnemum macrostachyum. The two latter ones can be found in the ruins of the abandoned buildings at Fontanigge4; a symbol of the slow mutation of these houses.

Another in situ visible construction system is the flooring detail with wood beams' spaces in the longitudinal walls.
This detail is recalled craving its dimensions in the proposed installation with wood beams to sustain it without affecting the ruins.
Another engraved element in the CLT structure is the fireplace (cutting out two layers, instead of one layer for the flooring system and the opening frameworks).
Lastly, there were two openings in different directions to control the climatic change to shelter the salt from the rain5. An opening is the one still existing in the ruins and it is in communication with the new one cut in the CLT installation.

The project proposal is designed for a reversible intervention and the materials' choice is based on low environmental impact values, confronting the embodied energy, the embodied carbon (CO2 emissions), and cost savings (a limited budget for the <50% added materials).

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1_ Starec R., Pietra su pietra: l’architettura tradizionale in Istria, Rovigno, Centro di Ricerche Storiche, 2012, p.102
2_ pomorskimuzej.si/sl/razstave/stalne/ladjedelstvo-v-piranu
3_ www.kpss.si/it/il-parco/produzione-del-sale
4_ www.kpss.si/it/il-parco/natura/le-piante-alofite
5_ Starec R., Pietra su pietra: l’architettura tradizionale in Istria, Rovigno, Centro di Ricerche Storiche, 2012, p.104