Unfolding in Woods- Eco Hotel Lignano Pinewood

- Masterplan
The design proposal “UNFOLD IN WOODS '' aims at finding out planning, architecture and space strategies to stitch together existing townscape and pinewood forest nature landscape. Situated both geographically and metaphorically in between the conflict between town and tourism development and nature preservation, the proposal tries to mitigate such antagonism by creating a “gateway” through which residents, visitors and tourists can experience and embrace the symbiosis of town and nature. The re-designed commercial plaza establishes a public “access point” in the middle of a highly populated town area and Via Delle Arti starts the transition towards the serenity of pinewood forest, while the hotel complex overlays itself upon the perimeter of the woods and softens the hard edge of Corso dei Continenti. Artificial structure and nature landscape mutually permeate within each other and generate venues, moments and scenarios in which people can interact with both of them in various ways. The proposal “UNFOLD IN WOODS'', therefore, creates a system of “interface” in which the human-town-nature tripartite experience starts at the commercial plaza as an anchor point, continues along Via Delle Arti and unfolds grandiosity in the 800-meter-long accommodation complex site.

- Commercial Plaza & Via Delle Arti
The design aims at utilizing minimum interventions to improve the condition of the existing landscape and structure on the commercial plaza site. An integrated network consisting of three nodes (main plaza, plaza in front of supermarket and green space in front of the gym) and three edges (pedestrian bridge, internal mini street and roadway connecting commercial plaza and hotel complex) is proposed. Using a form of “folding”, the entire space is activated three dimensionally and unfolds itself as a new gathering space and important anchor point between the waterfront beach resort and hotel complex.
Connecting the aforementioned nodes and edges in a succinct gesture, the folded plates rise from ground surface and morph into seats, stage, landscape and other elements, which create a uniform yet flexible basis where a variety of urban activities can occur. They are designed to also accommodate temporary structures including tents and food trucks to significantly expand the possibilities and scenarios of the plaza space.