1st prize
Invited competition for an open-air museum

Project competition based on the strategic masterplan “Carso 2014+”:
LAND Srl, arch. Andreas Kipar

Gorizia, Italy

The competition pertains to three project areas in Gorizia’s Karst. Specific designs were proposed for each area, put into a powerful relationship with each other, part of a strategic vision for the local area.
The proposal sets a strategy based on small, targeted actions that underscore the meaning of existing routes to foster individual observation and a sense of displacement, memory, reflection and surprise that are the defining aspects of approaching these places.

The projects develops three of the Carso Goriziano, connected by a network of paths punctuated by several minimal interventions aimed at stimulating individual observation and enhancing the feelings of disorientation, memory and surprise aroused by a visit in this historically charged region.

Project team
Studio Bürgi, capogruppo;
Glass Architettura Urbanistica; Thetis spa; Laut Engineering srl; arch. Stefano Alonzi

I L   C I R C U I T O

S A N   M I C H E L E

The area of San Michele open-air museum is a sacred space, full of monuments, stone memorials, embrasures, remains of trenches, war relics and small signs left by people who still recall a relative or a friend.
Given such situation, it was decided to leave the area as it was, without altering its existing condition, and to redesign its perimeter and simplify the overall context in order to highlight the individual historical elements and at the same time unify them in one vision. Between the two brackets of the paths, the morphology of the “grey” Carso’s bare rock thus emerges, while all around the “green” Carso’s vegetation flourishes. A museum will also be built in this area (design by Studio Glass Architettura Urbanistica, Venice).

R E D I P U G L I A

Redipuglia immediately surprises the viewer for the size of its war memorial and the silent presence of the cypresses of Sant’Elia hill. This powerfully evocative space has an unfailingly deep impact on its visitors; it is a place that speaks of the past. On one hand, the project aims at restoring the cypress hill’s integrity, on the other, it provides a shady, quiet area to visitors who approach it from Belvedere after they descend the war memorial’s steps. In suggesting the existence of a future beyond memory, it inspires a serene attitude that is not just of remembrance but also of hope due to the area’s expanse, its view on the landscape and the colours of vegetation. The new “wood” of bagolari established a dialogue with the cypresses of the Sant’Elia hill.

C A S T E L L A Z Z O  –  D O B E R D Ò

The Castellazzo area is a part of a landscape context that is one of a kind.
The feelings already aroused by this extraordinary context get even stronger in Castellazzo Doberdò where a path cut between two karstic walls gives visitors the opportunity to “enter” and “touch” Carso’s geology and tectonics. Natural light gets gradually weaker, while between the walls an opening on the landscape is visible at the end of the path. Once there, the view of a temporary lake can be admired from the belvedere.