Tag: venice

This month we will sadly end this wonderful collection of posts about the industrial side of Venice by talking about Ex Junghans Area, placed in Giudecca Island.

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Personality: Cino Zucchi.

Place: Area Ex Junghans.

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Area Ex Junghans

As we have explained here, Giudecca was the industrial heart of Venice. Here, for instance, was placed Molino Stucky factory and also the Junghans factory.

As some of you may know, Junghans is a worldwide famous watch and clock manufacturer. Founded in Germany on 15 April 1861, at the beginning of XX century it owned the largest clock factory in the world.

Besides that, Junghans decided to build a clock factory in Giudecca Island which was later converted in a war factory during World War II. Here, the war production continued after the end of the war.

Only at the beginning of the 1990s the Municipality of Venice launched a call for projects with the aim to change the industrial area in a modern residential neighbourhood.

In 1995 Cino Zucchi, an Italian architect, won the call and so the renovation of the Junghans area could begin.

Cino Zucchi

Cinzo Zucchi was born in Milano in 1955 and graduated in Architettura at the Politecnico di Milano in 1979. Nowadays, he has become a worldwide famous architect.

According to Zucchi Venice “necessita di tecniche progettuali articolate, che sappiano stabilire chiari obiettivi generali e al contempo attivare comportamenti pragmatici, flessibili, circostanziati”.

Freely translated “Venice requires articulated design techniques, which are able to establish clear general objectives and at the same time trigger pragmatic, flexible, detailed behaviours”.

In accordance with this statement, the renovation of Junghans Area was described as a “microsurgery”, meaning some places were radically renovated while others were only partially modified.

Zucchi designed 5 different residential buildings to explore the theme of living (one is presented in the trittico). The intervention involved the construction of a new canal and a new dock, preserving the pattern that characterized the Venetian spatial sequences: calli, campi, canals, public and private gardens. Thus, the contemporary architectures perfectly cohabit with the ancient parts of the island.

Without doubts, the projected renovation proved to be a good plan for Venice. Nowadays Junghans Area is a pleasant neighbourhood hosting, among others, a Theatre, shops and housing.