Islands into the stream. City fragments drifting from Baltic to Black Sea and beyond

BETWEEN THE TWO SEAS The project aims to establish the river connection between Baltic Sea and Black Sea, in order to create a network of developments along its route, where Vistula river, Bug, Dnieper-Bug canal,Pripyat and Dniepr rivers are involved. As the current conditions do not allow the full transit of all the way, due to the decay of existing structures, bad accessibility and environmental risk areas, the idea of reestablishing the water connection would allow and increase cultural, economic,social,touristic exchanges through Poland, Belarus, Ukraine and the Black Sea regions. The starting point of our journey will be Gdansk, a strategic city in the Baltic region, ending up in Istanbul as a unique symbolic intersection between east and west. On its way Kiev,a strategical place to focus our project. We think the improvement of this river connection can have great potentialities in strengthen relations between people of Eastern and Western Europe. European rivers system and economical system and would generate a consequent development through the countries involved. KIEV AS A HUB Kiev has been for centuries the scene of cultural stratification and trade exchanges between northern and southern Europe thanks to the presence of the Dnieper River running through it. The Dnieper is connected to the Vistula River by a canal, that means a continuous connection between Baltic Sea and Black Sea. Nowadays there are concrete plans to make a connection between western Europe and Kiev through the Paneuropean Corridor 5 (Lisbon-Kiev). The result would be a free market between European countries; that’s why European Union started investing in Ukraine as a new growing reality. Being now the centre of the two connections, how will Kiev change during the next decades? Which role would the river have in this new scenario? WHY BY WATER? Thanks to the economical development triggered by the Corridor, the river could become a further dimension where this development can be spread. We imagine a floating architectural and programmatic network: a kind of new floating city moving from place to place, promoting trade, tourism and economy on its way. This “floating caravan”, by interacting with different realities along the river, could create new scenarios, either standing in a place or moving elsewhere with new configurations. Being placed in the midpoint of this connection, Kiev will be completely involved in it, becoming a big hub, an archipelago of islands. THE ARCHITECTURAL PROJECT: Can a fluid configuration of urban elements be new way of thinking the contemporary city? Can a floating urbanism be a new possibility for the city to create unexpected relations? Can it coexist with the current one? We tried to imagine it. Kiev: A city ready to admit the temporariness as a value, a city free to reinvent each day itself, on generating each time unexpected events. The canal: starting from the potentialities of waterways, we propose the restoration of the water connections between Gdansk and Istanbul where it would be possible to navigate “fragments of cities and identities” of the places touched by the waterway. Boundaries start to dissolve, fragments become unique identities, cities are going to displace, losing certain and float from an harbour to another, places meet other places, bringing stories and tales, finally becoming “Islands into the stream”. For Kiev, we propose the realization of a WATERWAY right next to the ring-rail encircling the downtown. It would connect urban areas of different natures, combine situations, and with the same principle of “Island into the stream”, it would allow the city to finally “GO DRIFTING”. By putting in circulation the specific identities of each area, they would float away, than collide, than mix with each other, creating new programs and unexpected richer events. ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY Most major cities are situated on the bank of a river, this is because the rivers have for centuries been the main infrastructure for transport and water supply. Today the rivers are left in a state of degradation and are often used as discharge of waste from cities and industries. The river transport still has today a strong potential, especially in terms of sustainability. Sustainability is a keyword for the waterway transport if we consider than a train can carry the equivalent of about 40 trucks, while the riverboats take over the load of 85 ones, we need 1000 kg of fuel to move 50 tons of goods by road for a stretch of 1000 km, down to 515 kg for the rail and are further reduced to 394 kg for the ship, A ship requires 40% of the fuel.

Kiev è stata per secoli teatro di stratificazioni culturali e scambi commerciali grazie alla presenza del fiume Dniepr che la attraversa. Attualmente Kiev occupa una posizione strategica all’interno dell’Europa perché fulcro dell’intersezione di due importanti assi di collegamento: il corridoio paneuropeo 5 Lisbona-Kiev e la connessione fluviale tra Mar Baltico- Mar Nero. Inoltre, le recenti aperture verso il mercato occidentale e le politiche di espansione della città previste per il 2020 rappresentano le reali potenzialità che fanno di Kiev una realtà in crescente sviluppo. PERCHE’ SUL FIUME? Il nostro intento vuole costituire un network creato da un’architettura galleggiante che navighi e migri da Danzica a Istanbul passando per Kiev, sulle orme degli antichi tracciati fluviali. La carovana galleggiante può attraccare nei vari approdi lungo il fiume e interagire con le città e i luoghi incontrati. L’interazione tra elemento galleggiante e terraferma, genera e da vita a nuove situazioni le quali possono sostare o essere trasportati altrove, costituendo un vero e proprio network di servizi mobili che dal Mar Baltico scendono fino al Mar Nero. Kiev collocandosi nel punto mediano del tragitto, viene coinvolta nella sua interezza diventando un grande nodo di interscambio, un grande approdo, un arcipelago di isole. Il network o meglio, la nuova città galleggiante andrà a promuovere scambi commerciali, turistici e lo sviluppo economico di tutte le realtà incontrate lungo il cammino. IL PROGETTO: Può esistere un’urbanizzazione complementare all’urbanizzazione “fatta per durare”? Può coesistere un tipo di urbanizzazione “fluida”, temporanea e spontanea con l’urbanizzazione rigida e imposta? Noi crediamo di sì. Crediamo in un nuovi rapporti tra l’esistente e i cittadini, che liberino la città dai vincoli, predisponendola alla temporaneità e alla lotta contro l’impoverimento e l’apatia dello spazio pubblico, reinventando di volta in volta nuovi episodi e situazioni inaspettate. A partire dalle potenzialità dell’affaccio sul fiume e di una rete ferroviaria ben sviluppata, proponiamo la realizzazione di UN CANALE NAVIGABILE a fianco dell’anello ferroviario che attualmente cinge il nucleo della città, connettendo, frammenti urbani caratterizzati da diverse identità (il centro storico, i quartieri di edilizia residenziale, aree industriali, zone boschive, isole sul Dnipro). Lungo questo nuovo circuito d’ acqua la città potrebbe finalmente “ANDARE ALLA DERIVA”: mettere in circolazione le identità specifiche di ogni area, che, “staccandosi” e spostandosi come una variopinta carovana, andrebbero a mescolarsi tra di loro, generando nuovi programmi. Ogni giorno una varietà di piazze galleggianti si andrebbero a configurare in maniera diversa a seconda della combinazione di attività che vi ormeggiano: mercati, ristoranti, campi da gioco, uffici, chiese etc. UNA CITTA’ LEGGERA E FLUTTUANTE che si contrappone alla città pesante delle industrie, della monumentalità, dei blocchi residenziali.