Snodo Zero
The intention of my work is to confront me with an example of “empty urban”, with no content and purpose, that if re-thought with intelligence, can return to give its small contribution to the Monza’s urban life and become a major link between transport, citizens and territory. A small mapping of the abandoned areas of Monza was carried out and some of the discontinued space solutions with the most impact on the city were seen. I have chosen to focus on a non-site, the railway station of Monza Sobborghi, having an inside area in a state of “waiting”, now fully degraded.
I therefore act on this site, by becoming part of the community, answering services required by citizenship following a survey. The main point of this project is the study of the theory of CPTED, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, proposed by Jane Jacobs, which led to the resolution of the case being examined through the planning of activities, that make the railway station constantly frequented by acting citizenship as a vigilant “eye”, to raise the perceived insecurity situation. Monza Sobborghi thus becomes a junction to connect with the city, Brianza and the people of the territory, forming a place of aggregation and association of citizenship that will take care of the place itself.
I decided to take part in the railway station of Monza Suburb because I have been using the station every day to reach the city of Milan for more than ten years. For a long time I felt the need to give my neighborhood a solution to a visible and never resolved problem, and I decided to make a design proposal, through my Master's thesis, responding to the demands of the neighborhood's citizens.
For the color of the project I kept the yellow color which is currently the most used color in space buildings. I have thought of maintaining a very minimal industrial character, intervening above all from the point of view of service and urban rather than internal space.
The materials used are very common and easy to maintain.
I hope that the proposed idea can be a starting point for recovering the abandoned space for some time.
For this work I have first made a search in several archives and through various sources, both to retrieve the history of the site, the buildings, and to look for design ideas for the future proposal. This was the longest project phase, along with research on the current Italian situation with regard to the phenomenon of abandoned buildings. Subsequently I performed a perceptual and functional site analysis, photo scanning, and user analysis. I've created a survey that was run by the user in order to understand what anyone who uses space, failures, and needs requires. From the whole of this analysis I pulled out the project. So I have selected the buildings on which to intervene while keeping intact the private part of the area. I then developed the project using frequently used software such as Autocad, Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign, Rhinoceros, Keyshot.
I have not yet had concrete feedback because the project has remained paperless, and I have not yet been able to propose it. I hope in the future that I can use it to really work in the chosen space.
My project started from an initial analysis of the Italian situation of the abandonment phenomenon, and with an zoom I focused on the situation of the abandonment of the buildings of the city of Monza by mapping the whole city, though very much limited. I then studied the phenomenon of the reuse of railway stations such as hybridized stations, stations that became more (greenways and refurbished by free use) and finally the stations still to be refurbished. This phase of research has made me understand the greatness of the phenomenon in my country, and I hope they can make the disused spaces again available because they would be growth points for our communities.
