K A Y L E N C H O I
POROUS NEST BIRD SANCTUARY
APR 2022: STUDIO ABROAD (ARC 407): FLORENCE, ITALY
Under the instruction of Professor Cecilia Lundback
A COMBINED EFFORT WITH Ruqaiyah Bandukwala and Olivia Porrill
Maremma is a coastal area in the region of Grossetto, Italy. Our Porous Nest project zooms into the marshands of the D'ombrone River.
Initial research was conducted by looking at the Diaccia Botrona Reserve. Due to a malaria epidemic and the desire for productive lands, the Duke issued the reclamation of land (referred to as Bonifica Integrale) by pumping water below sea level and placing dikes or canals. Athough the reclamation project eradicated Malaria in the region, it had also eliminated crucial ecosystems and its biodiversity.
Porous Nest is an attempt to reintegrate and emphasize the diverse natural ecology of the Maremma area, while simultaneously providing sanctuary for the various bird species whose environments have been threatened since the start of Bonifica Integrale. The project would provide a resting and breeding ground for birds that are migrating along the D'Ombrone River.
Initial research consisted of recognizing the biodiversity of the Maremma region. Since the Diaccia Botrona Reserve is a marshland, we categorized the various species into a scale from wet to dry.
The project encourages visitors to wander the site respectfully through these different scales of porosity, as the scale of height, thickness, and density of the tufa rock and vegetation suggests the levels of human program and natural isolation. In this way, the visitor takes in the natural site, where the spectacle of the site and the birds becomes integral in the experience of the project.
The project also embraces the potentiality of flooding as a natural, and spectacular occurrence, and utilizes this aspect as further habitat possibilities for the bird population. Through strategic planning and research, the project will naturally fill up voids with flooding water to create ecosystems that flourish in unique ways throughout different times of the year.
The first steps of developing the concept of our project consisted of multiple iterations of figure ground and physical sand models. These iterations aided in solidifying the relationships between void, figure, mound, and pattern. We kept a consistent language where the figures drag to create void spaces and mounds. These figures and voids are then overlaid with a pattern to create even more territories.
On one of our field trips to Napoli, Italy, we came across tufa; a porous rock that is formed by water found near mineral springs. The porosity of the material leads to possibilities of growth, change, and degradation. Through various scales of porosity, the visitor is confronted with an indirect path of circulation throughout the sanctuary. The ambiguity confronts the visitor with decisions and pushes them to explore the sanctuary. The organic figures of vegetation, void, and tufa material begin to extend the edge of the river and change in scale of porosity to correspond with their intended permeability between water, people, and animals.
In this far axonometric view, the relationships between the tufa and vegetation with the mounds, voids, and river become more apparent. One would enter the project through the dike that runs along the site and through the visitors center (left most structure).
This section provides a closer look of the interior in one of the observatories. These structures are made of CNC-milled blocks of tufa that house birds and plants on the facade. The punctures in the rock also allow visitors to view the site. The boundary between nature and human are respectfully blurred. Around the exterior of the observatory, voids with tufa mounds are scattered around the project in which they either collect water from river floods, or stay as dry voids to provide spaces for animals or humans.
The plan view continues to communicate the differentiation of vegetation and tufa, platform and void, and water and land.
This view zooms in much more to capture the environment and diversity of the project. The bird starts to inhabit the area and the vegetation is wildly growing.
Lastly, a look into the interior of one of the observatories shows how light enters the structure through the porosity of the tufa. The relationship between the birds and humans is developed at a respectable distance where the birds carry on with their natural habits while visitors can watch without disturbing.