A paradigm of the modification. About a Vittorio Gregotti’s project

The paper, through a critical reading, deals with the Vittorio Gregotti’s project for the Ex Area Saffa in Venice. Studying the project as a paradigm of modification, this is a pretext to reflect on a modality of intervention in a particular existing settlement system, characterized 579 by the unresolved overlap of two urban fabrics and by a heterogeneous and fragmented typological presence. I think that Gregotti’s project works on two concepts: that of difference and that of contamination. I consider that these concepts are the link between a morphological idea and a typological solution within a modifying method and they are useful for defining a settlement process. Moreover, I think given that the measure is considered as the regulating principle of rationalization and mediation between context and project - it should be considered an essential instrument for the critical reading of the project as well. For this reason, through some redesigns, I would like to break the project up into its different parts and different reading levels: on the one hand, I focus on the relationship between the pre-existing settlement structure and the project to investigate the methods of reconnection, consolidation and completion; on the other one, on the relationships between type, form and space to understand the role of the context, and its advices, in design choices.