RILANCIO RIVA

Post-industrial transformation of the cement plant Buzzi Unicem at the northern Lake Garda.

Winter term 2016/17 – Bachelor module Landscape Architecture 6, Bachelor's studio project, 7th semester (7 SWS, 13 ETCS)

Thinking about the new challenges for planning and land-scape architecture that arise from the structural post-industrial transformation processes, the Alps usually lie beyond the limits of the common field of view. Reasons are manifold.

On the one hand, because of generally unfavorable conditions (e.g. limited resources and accessibility), the Alps were industrialized only late. On the other hand, since the beginning of the 19th century, they developed into a kind of stereotypical counter-image of industry, embodying the ideal of ‘free’ life beyond the coercion of a civilized everyday world.

However, contrasting with our expectations, the valleys of the Alps have long been places of industrial activity; decentralized cement plants produced building material for dams and tunnels, ironworks and cotton mills used the power of the fast-flowing mountain rivers.

The former Buzzi Unicem cement plant was founded in the 1920s and closed at the end of the 1990s. It is located not far from the northern shores of Lake Garda (coordinates: 45.909106, 10.853182), where in the summer months the lakeshore promenade is swarming with tourists. The factory has a surface of approximately 33.000 sq m and sits right next to a rocky, wooded hill – initially a source of raw material – that looks like a vanguard of the mountains beyond. This landscape is fundamentally different – morphologically, ecologically, culturally – from the industrial sites of the North European plains.

Task of the studio project RILANCIO [Relaunch] RIVA is to develop a concept for re-use out of the specific context of the southern edge of the Alps. This has to be elaborated up to the classical scales of 1:500 or 1:200.

The field trip will take place jointly with the Master's studio at the LAI at the beginning of November (09/11 or later). Feel free to contact Lars Hopstock, room E48, any time for further questions.

Supervision:
Prof. Dr. Udo Weilacher
Dr. Lars Hopstock
(Dipl.-Ing. Diana Böhm)
Bernhard Schöner (model making workshop)

Registration:  
From 12/09/2017 vie tumonline / at the kick-off meeting at 11/10

Kick-off:
17 October, room E42, 16:30–17:30 h