Can an Informal Campus Exist in Genova?

By Caroline Smith

Last week we discovered how Cedric Price’s 6 strategies can be related to the specific parts of my current project in the space behind the Albergo in Genova, Italy.  However this week I would like to explore how the campus model can be applied to my project as a whole, still keeping the idea of simplicity as a driving concept.  The campus model may seem complex at first, but it really can be simple when broken down into individual units. The many different programs in my current project, including both indoor and outdoor theaters, library space, lecture space, offices and other related spaces can be fit into three separate, free standing towers. But is there a way to allow ambiguity within the entire complex and still remain functional and successful for each program?

Architecture can be formal, with a formal purpose and function, but still have an informal plan. The Acropolis in Athens, which I recently had the opportunity to visit, is one of the oldest surviving examples of the informal campus. The Greeks put their most important public buildings on the tops of hills.  Each building in the Acropolis was sacred and important, but had no pattern of connection or circulation through the site, and the buildings were not orientated towards any common space. There is no one place you are drawn to stand, and no specific vantage point. The buildings do not overlap, but are completely independent serving the one very simple function that they were built for.  Still, The Acropolis was very practical and millions seek the brilliant architectural site out every year.

The more modern example of an informal campus is The Biennale in Venice. The international garden section is composed entirely of independent structures that do not have any concern for the others. They are free of any surrounding influence, but their only purpose is that of an exhibition space. The overall purpose of the biennale is so ambiguous that the informality of the campus is completely appropriate.  Each exhibition space takes into account its own simple function, similar to the pavilions of The Acropolis, while encouraging one to wander through the garden on no specific path. In this way, the entire complex is informal, but the architecture within is formal.

My question is if this can be replicated in Genova, a city filled with piazzas where surrounding buildings are designed specifically for these public spaces. It is easy to compress each program into three individual structures, but is there a way to simplify the entire site enough to create an informal campus? Is there enough ambiguity to successfully create free-standing architecture with little or no clear circulation or pattern? I already know that I must coordinate around a vantage point. In this way the spaces must be more organized than those in The Acropolis, but could there still be enough vagueness in circulation and orientation to imply an indefinite campus successfully around the gallery spaces?  Potentially, the three main towers will still have specific and simplified functions, like each pavilion in The Acropolis and the Giardini, but the circulation and gallery spaces surrounding the three structures will be ambiguous and seemingly disordered to allow one to wander through the entire informal campus.