...beginning..of..the.seventies....palermo.(sicily)........vittorio..gregotti...is..called..as..one...of..the...first..big.commissions...of...the....gregotti...associati.firm...to....design....
.........an....incredibly.huge........social....housing......project......the.ZEN....(zona...espansione.nord).......
....................the......construction...begins............and.......after..........a..couple.....of....years........
...................before............the..end...of...the.construction............
.........people.begin....to...occupy......unlawfully..........the....flats............
......in...the.buildings.......there.....is....no.water.no.........electricity.and.no.heating.................
............30....years..later.........arch-fanzine.............send.....two...........e-pin-ups...for........a..........shooting....in.ZEN............

1969/1973 Palermo
Residential Dsitrict for 20,000 inhabitants (Zen)
First Prize in the Design Competition
Some parts completed
Architecture - Housing
The district extends along the extension of the 18th-century axis of Via Maqueda. The intervention is ordered by a dense geometric grid which was adopted as a reference and measure of the surrounding area, retrieving and reinterpreting the traces of the enclosure system of lot division.
The district is composed of 18 "islands" arranged on three rows, and the fabric of these proposes the historical arrangement and density of the historic center of Palermo. This theme is extended to include a series of ambiguities introduced by the tradition of Central European Rationalist districts. A selection of different housing models, i.e. high, low, terraced and gallery dwellings, are set side by side and fused, while the omnipresent large ground-level arcades are used for commercial and artisan activities. The main services, e.g. schools, sports facilities, community center and spaces for small-scale production operations, are arranged at right-angles on three parallel strips (two exterior and one interior).
Commissioned by
IACP - Istituto Autonomo Case Popolari di Palermo
Design Team
Vittorio Gregotti, Franco Amoroso, Salvatore Bisogni, Hiromichi Matsui, Franco Purini
with: Spartaco Azzola, Graziella Clerici, Raffaello Cecchi, Giambruno Ruggeri, Federico Lazzaro
(from http://www.gregottiassociati.it/eng/progetti/default.htm)

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