Architectural Intervention
Constructlab

February 2016 - June 2016
Ammirato Culture House | Lecce, Italy

Giardino Ammirato (admired garden) is an initiative looking to collectively re-imagine an abandoned public garden in the city of Lecce, Italy, which despite its historical, social and environmental value as one of the few green areas in the city, had been neglected for years. The garden is part of the original 16th century structure housing the cultural association Ammirato Culture House and the pedagogical artistic experiment Free Home University.

The project was born out of the group’s desire to rehabilitate the area and collaboratively reinvent it for communal and convivial use. A network of local people and initiatives interested in recuperating the garden was developed during an in-situ residency in the months prior to the intervention. Together, we created a cultural program to activate the garden during the summer months in order to simultaneously open up the cultural centre towards the neighbourhood and to invite individuals to use the garden.

With the motto E facciamolo, un giardino! ( And, lets make a garden!) a group of international creatives, local associations and neighbours started a two-week activation period in the month of june. The first week of the intervention was an open-building site, inviting individuals from the community to actively join-in the process. This resulted in the construction of a scaffolding-like structure on the inside and the outside of the courtyard, and multiple smaller structures in the garden that opened up the space for new activities.

During the second week, a variety of actions and workshops such as the construction of a public oven, the planting of a small urban garden, an aperitivo for dogs, reading groups and theatre performances, were carried out bringing life to the space. This inaugurated a program of weekly activities in the garden that took place during the summer months. Throughout the development of the project, a garden committee emerged and is now taking care of the garden.

Constructlab team:
Carla Rangel 
Alexander Römer 
Patrick Hubmann
Mascha Fehse
Sébastien Tripod
Elisa Saturno

Commissioned by:
Ammirato Culture House
& Free Home University

With the support of:
Musagetes 

Collaborators:
Free Home University
Dina Bataineh
Juan Lopez Cano
Giuseppe Grant
Nayari Veloso
Raphael Daibert
Daniela Brasil
Daniela Sánchez
Glukya Pershina
Artur Safonov
Federica Meenin
Andrea Vitti

Gian Marco Vitti
Federico Rollo
Banca dei Semi Salentina
Pollicini Verdi
Fermenti Lattici
Amica
Sprar Gus (Gruppo Umana Solidarietà)
Associazione Arcobaleno (Pisigniano)
Alessandra Pomarico
Neighbours and Ammirato Culture House members