Arcadico
Location: Genoa, IT
Program: Public beach, tidal pool, library
Type: Individual design project (10 weeks)
Level: MSc Architecture, Urbanism & Building Sciences, TU Delft
Supervisor: Joran Kuijper, Alper Alkan
This project investigates the coastline as a site of public access, urban commons, and cultural infrastructure, exploring how the fragmented beach territories along the Linea Mare can be reconfigured to support diverse social, recreational, and cultural uses. Treating the seafront as a dynamic urban-recreational landscape, the intervention transforms a neglected stretch beneath Corso Italia into a layered public realm of pathways, terraces, shaded retreats, and programmed zones—fostering experiences that range from brief encounters with the sea to extended communal engagement. By integrating ecological systems, recreational infrastructure, and cultural programming, the project demonstrates how shrinking port cities can activate interstitial coastal zones, balancing accessibility, identity, and environmental responsiveness. Through the interplay of hard and soft landscapes, social choreography, and microclimatic strategies, the design establishes a resilient recreational ecology where architecture mediates between natural processes, public life, and urban infrastructure to create a culturally resonant seafront.
The proposal articulates a network of pathways, terraces, and shaded enclaves, where hard and soft surfaces converge to shape a nuanced topography of movement and repose. These interconnected sequences accommodate a spectrum of temporalities—from brief encounters with the water to longer leisure and communal gathering—reflecting the rhythms and rituals of Mediterranean seaside life. Circulation, sightlines, and sequencing define the spatial composition, alternating between direct, linear paths and winding, elongated routes. Buildings and structures are strategically positioned between pathways, emerging from and reinforcing the flow. Architecture and movement mutually generate one another creating a dynamic interplay between circulation, program, and spatial experience. 
