Venice Intervention: Cruise Ship Terminal
ARCH 4010: Venice Study Abroad Studio - Fall Semester 2014
The Venice Intervention Project is a cultural transformer connecting Murano to the Marco Polo Airport on the mainland. The goal of Venice Intervention is to alleviate the effects of pollution from Maghera Harbour, an area of the lagoon plagued by heavy water contamination from factories and the shipping industry, while also providing a cultural infrastructure for tourists arriving in Venice from both cruise ships and the airport. Waste from Maghera Harbour is used as recycled building material for the newly designed cruise ship terminal; the waste is first treated at a plant and then utilized to build a new island off the island of Murano. The site of Murano was chosen to eliminate unnecessary dredging, an environmentally hazardous method of creating waterways to accommodate large ships.
Two paths, one for tourists arriving by plane and the other for tourists arriving by cruise ship, connect at the terminal and intertwine into a conglomerate form spanning the lagoon. Cruise ship tourists take the long path, leading from the cruise ship terminal to the island of Saca San Matia in Murano, where they will catch a vaporetto to Venice. The purpose of the long path is to provide cruise ship tourists with information regarding historical preservation, environmental awareness, and practical Venetian knowledge through moments. These moments include exhibition space, workshop rooms, galleries, and theaters all along the path. Airport tourists take the short path, allowing quick access to either the vaporetto to Venice or the cruise ship terminal. The airport tourists can walk or take a train on the short path. These tourists also have the option to stop at the moments to better understand the lagoon surrounding them.