Studio Details

Location
Venice, Italy

Date
3-14th July, 2023

Studio Directors in Venice
Lorenzo Mattozzi (associate architect, MVRDV)
Cosimo Scotucci (senior project leader, MVRDV)

Studio Project
Food Production and Reception Infrastructure

Field Trips and Site Visits
A day trip to the islands of Mazzorbo, Burano and Torcello + visits to the project site, the Island of Prà and Venissa Wine Resort.

Mazzorbo – students will learn about halophyte agriculture and reviving forgotten grapes and wines of the lagoon at the Venissa resort;
Burano – students will learn about fishing and lacemaking traditions which make the island famous;
Torcello – students will walk around the island and learn about its long and important history;
Isola del Prà – students will walk around the island and make a photographic survey

Studio Project

The aim of the Studio is to understand the potential of agriculture, as both a business and a social catalyst, within the islands of the lagoon and to re-evaluate, improve and innovate the physical and commercial ties with the historical centre. An improved connection between Venice and its archipelago has the potential to provide Venice with residential, agricultural and working functions that do not find space within the dense and crystallized historical fabric. The students will design buildings that promote agriculture and food within the lagoon context in connection to educational structures that will attract tourism within the Venetian archipelago.

The studio will research landscape, agriculture and food production within the Venetian lagoon. It will include field trips to directly experience nature, production and products. It will study limits, constraints, specificities and potentials of growing food in an environment surrounded by brackish water. It will use the MVRDV methodology to analyse the context, to study scale and typology and to produce a consistent project narrative. Finally, the Studio will address sustainability by means of the UN SDGs.

Students will reach a basic understanding of the Venetian context, particularly the relation between Venice and its lagoon. The Studio will offer multiple channels for learning and experiencing the city and the surrounding landscape. The chosen site is Isola del Prà, the north-western island in the Mazzorbo archipelago (a group of four islands), surrounded by the Mazzorbo Canal on the north-eastern front, by the Scomenzera S. Giacomo Canal on the south-eastern front and by the Palude del Monte marsh along the south and north-western fronts. The island is uninhabited, semi-abandoned and presents only a few vestiges of its agricultural history. The Island of Prà was connected to the current Island of Santa Caterina until 1927, when an extension of the Mazzorbo Canal (the Santa Margherita Canal) was dug to connect Mazzorbo’s northern shore to the Scomenzera S. Giacomo Canal.

Today, the island is private and belongs to the Bisol family, owner of the nearby Venissa Wine Resort. The Studio, in collaboration with Venissa, will seek to develop its unexplored potential, focusing specifically on reconnecting it, physically and metaphorically to the cycles of halophyte agriculture, food, farming, fishing and tourism of the nearby islands: the project aims at producing a small master plan for the island that will promote traditional farming and agriculture while also promoting eno-gastronomic tourism and the repopulation and refurbishment of the lagoonar landscape. The project seeks to introduce Venetian residents and tourists to the lagoon’s traditions, products and flavours, in a very modern, open and social context. Furthermore, the students will also explore the potential of rammed earth building methods in their design, reviving a sustainable and suitable construction process within the lagoonar context.

MVRDV

MVRDV was founded in 1993 by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries. Based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, the company has a global scope, providing solutions to contemporary architectural and urban issues in all regions of the world. It is a highly collaborative environment where architects, clients, stakeholders, and experts from a wide range of fields, come together during the creative process. The results are exemplary, outspoken projects that enable cities and landscapes to develop towards a better future.

The products of MVRDV’s unique approach to design vary, ranging from buildings of all types and sizes, to urban plans and visions, numerous publications, installations and exhibitions. Completed projects include the Netherlands Pavilion for the World EXPO 2000 in Hannover; the Market Hall, a combination of housing and retail in Rotterdam; the Pushed Slab, a sustainable office building in Paris’ first eco-district; Flight Forum, an innovative business park in Eindhoven; the Silodam Housing complex in Amsterdam; the Matsudai Cultural Centre in Japan; the Unterföhring office campus near Munich; the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam; the Ypenburg housing and urban plan in The Hague; the Didden Village rooftop housing extension in Rotterdam; the music centre De Effenaar in Eindhoven; the Gyre boutique shopping center in Tokyo; a public library in Spijkenisse; an international bank headquarters in Oslo, Norway; and the iconic Mirador and Celosia housing in Madrid.

The work of MVRDV is exhibited and published worldwide and has received numerous international awards. Two hundred and fifty architects, designers and urbanists develop projects in a multi-disciplinary, collaborative design process that involves rigorous technical and creative investigation.

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Partner

Venissa

Venissa is a project of agricultural rejuvenation and sustainable hospitality set on Mazzorbo Island, in the most untouched part of the Venetian lagoon. Within the estate is a vineyard of the native, semi-extinct grape variety Dorona, which yields a unique wine that perfectly represents the symbiosis between the human and natural elements that exists in Native Venice. The walled vineyard acts as a backdrop for the five rooms of the quaint Wine Resort, the Osteria Contemporanea and Ristorante Venissa (Michelin Star and Green Michelin Star), where local ingredients are turned into gastronomic experiences combining taste of place and environmental practices.

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