Venice Urban Lab
Taking Action Through Design
Unused spaces > Urban Regeneration
Marittima, Scomenzera, Dorsoduro Ovest
Among the many reports of buildings and empty spaces, unused or little used that are coming to us through the callforspaces launched in June, although all are important, those larger are undoubtedly the area of the "Maritime" and the adjacent area along the Scomenzera canal, today both "fenced" areas as port area.
The expansion platforms of the 20th century Dorsoduro West:
- Scomenzera (S. Marta, Ex. Italgas, S. Basilio)
- Maritime
- Log
The western sector of the city that includes the Station and the Car Parks of Piazzale Roma and the island of Tronchetto, the Marittima area, are the result of successive expansions from the mid-nineteenth century to today. The port areas are separated from the city by the Scomenzera Canal where large parking lots and abandoned tracks stretch in front of the strip in front of the Giudecca Canal to S. Basilio. The set of these areas consist of more than 70 hectares of land that is little used today and constitute a great opportunity for the reorganization of the port but also for the revitalization of the city with spaces and services for residents.
The expansion to the west of the city began in the mid-800 with the railway station, and continued in several stages during the twentieth century Today, the station was added three large platforms, two of which equipped with a maritime station, and the third, the island of Tronchetto, dedicated to logistics and parking.
In the pre-nineteenth-century Venice, in Santa Marta there was an imposing uncultivated expanse that represented the westernmost beach of the city.
At the end of this space, just like today, at Punta dei Lovi, there was the church of Santa Marta, a building of uncertain origin (around the fourteenth century) now deconsecrated.
Not to forget the presence of the convent of the Terese Sisters, adjacent to the Church of San Nicolò dei Mendicoli. In fact, it is above all the documents of the old convent that allow today a reconstruction of life in the area.
The beach of Santa Marta was frequented mainly by fishermen and their families who, on the eve of the feast of Santa Marta, gathered for the "Night Festival". They stranded the boats on the sand and there they cooked the "vents", the freshly caught sole. The "night festival" was so successful that soon people of high lineage joined, who went to the beach to eat fish cooked on the spot.
So much so that the party became a fixture of every Monday in August of each year, when the beach was filled with Venetians.
Source:
https://www.metropolitano.it/venezia-santa-marta-spiaggia-cittadella-universitaria/
FORMER CHURCH OF SANTA MARTA
CONVERSION OF THE FORMER CHURCH OF ST MARTHA TO PORT RECEPTION SERVICES
DESIGNERS - VINCENZO CASALI, VITTORIO DE FEO
PROJECT YEAR - 2006
PHOTOS BY - MARCO ZANTA
The church of S. Marta and the adjoining convent were, at the time of construction, the extreme part of the "Beach of S. Marta".
the harbour Authority of Venice, promoter of the participation of recovery of the building, has intended to valorize of the monumental characteristics and to convert it in a multipurpose space, destined to marine harbour activities (crocieristica, ferries, agencies and other harbour operators)but also to the use by the resident and non-resident population of the area.
The intervention of conservative restoration of the church aimed to bring back to the typological unit the envelope consisting of brick masonry and roof tiles with wooden structure and plank, along with the recovery of the remaining decorative elements exterior and interior.
In the volume delimited by the walls and the roof so restored, an exhibition/relational space was created along the inner perimeter, a central wooden structure with about 50 seats, services, a bar and technological systems. The complex of the former church of S. Marta in Venice, after the redevelopment works (2002)
