Special Mention
2007 Skyscraper Competition
Anna Rita Emili
Italy
Sentina is an abandoned and degraded place situated in Italy’s west coast. The space dimension of this almost uncontaminated landscape needs a new construction that takes into consideration history and nature.
Our project traces a track of this landscape, a linear axis, a mixture of history and contemporary life: a route that highlights the presence of ancient country houses and an axis that ends unavoidably at the sea. Therefore the road as a bi-dimensional entity is transformed into a three-dimensional element, thanks to a vertically constructed space. Detaching itself from earth, it partly contains a route equipped with mastings, a canal, sporting and playing areas.
As it meets the line of the sea, the road bends, transforming into a skyscraper, which is one hundred and fifty meters high. It is an element which, without any mediation between the space and the surrounding nature, establishes a pure and decisive contrast between horizontal and vertical, between nature and artifice, between ancient and modern. The skyscraper contains lodging, services, communal and exhibition spaces, shops, and restaurants.