Architecture for Landscape 2022 Edition
Design of Observatory centers for WWF protected area of Grotte del Bussento
The course, conducted under the tutorship of SANAA and carried out in collaboration with WWF, concerned the design of an architectural system aimed at enhancing the visitors' experience at Bussento caves - one of the most fascinating and rich natural compendiums of biodiversity on a national scale. Caves and canyons whose walls cling to suggestive observation points, waterfalls and streams where to insert platforms and viewpoints, and again the vestiges of an ancient mill where a visitor center or a small dining place can be placed; the protected area boasts a variety of foreshortening and enchanting views that easily serve the purpose of carrying out experiments in which the landscape and the architectural element are the protagonists. Through the workshop, students will be able to test the insertion of architectures that dialogue with the landscape, with the aim to optimize its programs without overruling it, and indeed helping to sculpt it and emphasize its suggestive elements. The work is then not a simple design exercise, but a real environmental commitment: making the last great sanctuaries of mother nature accessible - through architecture - means spreading awareness around the environmental issue and with it the commitment of a wider public and consequent protection activities.
WWF Grotte del Bussento area
The WWF Oasis of Morigerati is a triumph of beauty, one of the most coveted treasures of the Cilento, Alburni and Vallo di Diano National Park. The oasis is located in the hinterland of the Gulf of Policastro, a karst area dominated by gorges, sinkholes, underground conduits and caves. Here the rain has penetrated the limestone rocks for millennia, shaping a landscape that today is a real spectacle of nature. The "Grotte del Bussento" Oasis, established in 1985, is the most important conservation project of WWF Italy and is included in the list of world Geoparks. Equal to 607 hectares, the Oasis is located within a Site of Community Importance, and is enhanced by the Cilento Park as part of the itinerary n ° 15. Precious heritage of biodiversity and bulwark in defense of the territory, the protected area of Morigerati attracts thousands of tourists every year. Descending into the valley of the Bussento river is an experience of great impact. The first major protagonist of the visit is a marvelous stone mill from the end of the 18th century. The milling is a horizontal wheel, a system introduced by the Greek Basilian monks who emigrated from the Balkans to Cilento around the eighth century. A.D., fleeing the iconoclastic struggles. The other unmissable stop on the trail is the musk station, the most important in southern Italy, which can be reached by skirting springs, waterfalls, rapids and pools. Willows and alders covered with thick moss offer a dreamlike landscape that can be admired in dutiful silence, among the scents of ferns and bark, in a much cooler microclimate than that of the previous areas. Near the musk station there is the entrance to the spectacular Bussento Grotta, so-called because the Bussento river rises here, after more than 4 km in the bowels of the earth. The cave is accessed through a portal 320 meters high and 10 wide, which gives the site an undoubtedly monumental character. Here the Bussento rises violently from a siphon (a submerged gallery) and acquires whirling speed between the close walls of the cave. The Morigerati cave is a real temple where the power and beauty of nature are venerated.