12 EASY PIECES

12 EASY PIECES, modular, set up temporary public spaces to allow tourist to enjoy the sea, protecting the renaturalisation of Melendugno’s coastal landscape.

12 EASY PIECES is the name of the finalist project in the competition for the recovery masterplan of the coastal landscape of Melendugno, Salento. The competition asked for a proposal to preserve and enhance the landscape, together with the design of six urban spaces: an area of high naturalistic value but at risk, made up of urbanised areas, natural sites, archaeological areas and UNESCO heritage sites.

By working on the relationship between the coast and the inner territory, the proposal frees the coastal strip from private mobility. The coastline is reorganised with 3 main tools: paths for soft mobility and seasonal spaces in the natural environment to promote sustainable tourism; finally public spaces and services for the urban areas that have been built on the coast in the last decades.

This system is based on a sequence of intertwined interventions.
The reorganisation of mobility, with the proposal of alternative routes and transport means, aims to reduce the vehicular load and support the biodiversity.
The second action promotes the renaturalisation of the coastal strip, throughout a process of planting based on the relationships amongst families of plants pertaining to the same biotope.
The planting areas redefine the paths and public spaces in order to prevent the erosion of the cliff from improper uses and to guarantee the presence of meeting places for socialisation.

The temporary public spaces are assembled by using 12 modular PIECES, each housing an elementary function. The 12 pieces are meant to serve social life, modular as desired, capable of configuring public spaces, temporary or not, in specific sites and following the conditions and topography of the different places: oneiric figures that recall the maritime imagination.
The elements are designed according to the techniques and materials of the local shipbuilding industry. In this sense, the urban and landscape project contributes to the promotion of the local economy by valorizing local techniques and knowledge.