Author(s)

ANTONELLA GUIDA, ANTONELLO PAGLIUCA & DOMENICO DEBENEDICTIS

Abstract

There is architecture that could be called “timeless”: places built by ancient civilizations where transformative human interventions have been successful; in fact, despite making small changes related to new needs, they have allowed the preservation and maintenance of this architecture. The shipyards of the Mediterranean can certainly be connoted as “timeless” places; they are characterized by simple structures, as they are factories and buildings without value; at the same time, they are imposing buildings, as they include other minor construction yards for the construction of vessels. They became an economic and social way to develop the culture of a site. These buildings are witnesses of an architectural monumentality that, although medieval, nevertheless displays a contemporary conception of space: great depth, good perspective and arches that seem to chase each other. This is the reason why, despite time, these buildings have always managed to perpetuate in new and different functions. This research analyzes the role that these places currently perform; the redevelopment and recovery processes that are submitted to ensure that this architecture continues to dialogue with the historically consolidated urban contexts, responding to the needs of contemporary living (i.e. from naval factories to factories for culture). The project of “controlled modification”, to which this architecture is now subjected in order to go on living, belongs to the knowledge or methodological approach which allows space and time to be given to these places and also to their particular production and commercial importance.

Keywords

Mediterranean basin, recover & valorization, shipyard, space versatility