Resilient processuality: the commercial building typology from Bazaars to Passages

Originally generated by urban and territorial transformations, the commercial network has produced a whole series of specialized fabrics spread out over the Mediterranean area. In this context, distinguished by the need of maximizing resources, it is possible to identify those characters of permanence and transformation proper of the market type and of the whole specialized fabrics having commercial function. The anthropic process is inherent to the resilient nature of the city, appearing in the course of history through the different architectural types, starting from the Greek Stoà to the Roman Market, from the Persian Caravanserai until the Modern Era with the French Passage. The relationship between commercial building (market) typology and urban fabric is complex, as related by an interrelationship: if we consider the “market” as a “specialization” respectively of the building, of the fabric and of the territory, we can then apply to it the statement about the dialectic between special buildings and urban fabric made by Gianfranco Caniggia. In fact the type, especially in its original form, is tightly linked with the psychological and cultural climate where it has been originated. Therefore, it becomes the synthesis of all common characters that could be given or adapted in different environments. The aim of this research is to demonstrate how, within the anthropic dynamics, resilience can be identified exactly in the processual nature of the commercial fabric, which means that similar characters can be found even in culturally different areas, provided that they share a similar use of space