Hidden identities of Favignana island

The main goal of this project is the re-activation of the fort of Santa Caterina. We put an end to its isolation and turn its role of solitary ruin by reshaping its connection with the adjacent area and by creating a unique system with the neighbouring nature. The project aims at celebrating Favignana Island through its own self-memorial.

The main goal of this project concerns the reactivation and reconnection of the fort of Santa Caterina to the pervading nature of Favignana island, by enhancing its magnificence and its history through a delicate architectonical approach of layering. After analysing the history and the culture of the island, we start the project by acknowledging two pre-existing elements: the path, a rigid and steep dirty road, and the fort on the top of the mount Santa Caterina. Inspired by the porous and calcareous nature of this place, we feel that the best way to undermine these introverted architectures is to create elements that allow to live “in” and “through” the island. In order to accomplish this result, we create a dynamic architectonical narration that starts at the beginning of the path and ends at the maximum height of the island, where the fort fiercely stands. We open the path limits to the surrounding nature, creating a sequence of experiences by designing objects and micro-architectures. These elements are spread not only in the territory but also inside the fort and they generate an open system of sensorial and perceptive structures that allow the visitor to break through the perimeter of pre-existences. This way, the visitor can catch the vibrant energy of the land by enjoying a multifaceted reality. We imagine the fort of Santa Caterina as a condenser of visible and invisible aerial experiences and we think of the building outside the fort as a small exhibition of the local cuisine to show, in a tangible way, the sense of hospitality, typical of Favignana. We reshape an area rich of cultural transitions, a widespread creativity place, a contemporary imagination site. Thanks to a pulverization of architectonic project, the tourist is able to be in direct connection to this environmental system through his body, his senses and his perceptions. In this place all different architectonic elements are vehicle of reading, of appreciation and of enjoyment of this territory where the narration, the experience and the contemplation are entangled and generate a new space of narration of Favignana island.