Palladio Center for the Arts

Spring 2023

Location: Vicenza, Italy

Professor: James Givens

Process

This studio started with intensive studies into the architectural fabric of Rome, Florence, and Venice, and included some smaller studies around other significant historic cities, including Siena, Bologna, and Padova. These studies were done in order to learn what made the buildings and spaces successful, and then apply those same principles to Piazza delle Biade, a less successful piazza adjacent to the landmark Piazza dei Signori.

We could use the site however we wanted and were encouraged to play with the shape and volume of the building or buildings we put on the site, as long as they met the program. My building ultimately wound up being a U-shaped building that happened to resurrect a piazza that used to be part of Vicenza, the Piazza del Vino. This shape helped ultimately drive my design and programming of the building.

VISION SKETCH FOR LIBRARY SPACE

Figuring out how to work with the external appearance of the building proved a challenge. Because Vicenza has such a strong historic context, a delicate balance arose of respecting the existing facades while not being overly historicist. After doing a charrette to work on several façade types and being reviewed by my peers, I chose to go for a stripped-down classical look with colors that both emulate the nearby Basilica Palladiana and the vernacular buildings around it, done in terracotta and copper.