Urban space container at variable pressure

“Urban space container at variable pressure” wants to regenerate two gasometers that are no longer in operation finding a way to interacting with an old industrial construction, designing a building that could be a link between what the gasometers were and what they could be.

The project aims to give a new life to two gasometers, one of 80,000 m³ and the other of 42,000 m³. In the space previously used for the bell of the largest gasometer, is erected a building. The design of his plant has origin from the smallest gasometer of the triad, of 5,000 m³, that was destroyed by a gas explosion. The design process has incipit in the identification of its perimeter and in the subsequent decomposition in 6 arcs of circumference. The scenario that is presented, therefore, is of six arches that are positioned inside the largest gasometer, of 80,000 m³, seem to be dominated by confusion. Through the geometric decomposition of the plant, in 16 slices, the fragments of the smallest gasometer find order. Simultaneously with the identification of the elements in plan was articulated the development of the volumes. The space, in fact, delimited by the fragments of the smallest gasometer, has variable dimensions; it is possible, therefore, to identify three main spaces that in turn are articulated on multiple levels characterized by an “spatial variable pressure”. So the building, that takes shape, is characterized by a succession of spatial conditions. Inside, have been designed three ramps, which, overcoming differences in height, generate suggestive atmospheres. These ramps have bright colours such as yellow, orange and burgundy that contrast the grey of the reinforced concrete partitions. The space does not have an imposed function but is ready to host variable functions according to the various needs of those who will use it. In the smaller gasometer a garden has been designed, with the hope that in the future the flora may flood the metal structure. An element that connects the two gasometers is an external ramp that “rolls out like a ribbon” along the metal structure. Reaching the top of the ramp is also allowed by an elevator, whose structure is characterized by a tuff stone covering, that is a typical and traditional Neapolitan construction material.