The spirit of a community

The spirit of a community results from every gesture posed by all of its individuals and it’s through each individual that the architecture of a city is identified. The lifestyle of the people is transmitted through the structures by the union and the sharing of space but it is essentially by its environment that the individual is inspired. It’s not a question of adapting mankind to the condition of the environment, neither to force the environment to adapt to civilization. The goal is to confuse the architecture and the community with the natural cycle of earth, to take advantage of the natural phenomena and to harmonize it with the native rhythm.

The advantage of having a unique identity is to take care of it and present it to the world. The Venetians built houses and palaces on sandy soil, constantly defying tides. Following the alarming sea level, the people from the lagoon have installed a part of their city on the banks of the submerged city. Desperate to preserve Venice as it is, they dug the lagoon to elevated parks and common areas. In respect for their culture, they moved structures at risk from the Acqua alta and rebuilt around them a city full of Venice’s spirit and magnitude. Never losing sight of the original city that is on stilts.

An identity of welfare and wellbeing, a community must live as a community in an environment designed for the community. Venice is an example of mutualism between man and nature. Walking and waterways remains essential for the citizens who accommodate themselves with public transportation in the heart of the city. Since the number of individual motorized boat has greatly declined; tourists travel through reserved channels and large barges in a constant symbiosis. Accompanied by technology, Venice appropriated the natural wealth that was given to him by the environment and makes it profitable. The city feeds in energy by the means of tides, wind and solar energy.