Museum Storico Navale
The brief for this project explores the concept of future heritage through the design of a naval museum in Venice on the site of the Bacini di Carenaggio at the Arsenale. The three dry dock basins and existing buildings provide valuable context and urban form, as does the heritage of boatmaking and the naval tradition of the region.
The programmatic approach has been to combine a musuem, with working accommodation to house boat making workshops as well as studio space for crafts people. The museum is of a sufficient area to house a wide range of objects up to the scale of a 42 metre galley. An open indoor market provides opportunities for local producers of craft to sell to visitors.
Whilst the contextual heritage of the site is regarded as a key asset, it is not the intention to leave heritage unchanged or unadapted. Venice has a rich history of change, evident in its palimpsest like formal appearance. Layers of historic meaning present themselves all over this city, and this project is intended as a further layer. The historic dry docks have been adapted to suit a new programme, which has necessitated the partial removal of segments of the docks.
(Y5 MArch, University of East London, 2017)
