The reuse of properties originally belonging to the Ministry of Defense and then to the State Property Agency is a highly topical theme in Italy. Over the last two decades, a process of divestment has occured, offering interesting opportunities; for instance barracks, often situated in central urban areas, are a fundamental occasion for development of local realities. In particular, the La Marmora barracks in Turin are a late nineteenth century property of the Ministry of Defense which are no longer used. At an institutional level, the bureaucratic process is completed with the approval of the urban variation and the sale to Cassa Depositi e Prestiti; the property, however, was occupied from April to November 2015 by some members of the association ‘Terra del Fuoco’, protesting against the current abandonment and asking for a respectful use of the barracks (a prison during the Second World War). The establishment is vacated in mid-November, following a further occupation carried out by an anarchist collective and some nomads. The situation is a reflection of a reality far from clarified, especially concerning the requests coming from “the bottom”. The aim of the research is to consider the several aspects of the decision problem related to the barracks in its complexity, by merging architectural design and decision-making in a single reflection on design practice, along with the testing of the Strategic Choice Approach method (Friend and Hickling 1984); SCA is a planning approach, consisting of four phases, focusing on uncertainty management in conflictual situations, in order to define the problem and solve it by identifying and comparing alternatives.
Elena Todella
Relatori:
Isabella Lami
Alessandro Armando