The “sea dunes”

Alghero, Italy

The “sea dunes”
Alghero, Italy
2011-in progress
program: Technical and economic feasibility study for the design of a turistic and receptive complex in the “Maria Pia di Savoia” area in Alghero (Sardinia) including 2 5-star hotels, 2 4-star hotels, 885 rooms, an urban park (217 000 m2), parking, and services (bars, restaurants, swimming pools…)
total area: 79,535 m2
client: AIRAM scrl, Milano
project: Alfonso Femia * with AW2 and JBPA
structural engineering: IQuadro
services and environmental engineering: Ai studio & Ai Engineering srl
landscape design: LAND Sardegna srl
road infrastructures: MIC srl
urban planning: Viola Associati
images: ©Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia
“The project takes into account the origins, as well as those non-original elements that are today part of the landscape, that make the area recognizable by the local community and create a new space that, while providing new services, is fully reintegrated into its territorial context.” AF
The project starts from this premises and – taking into account the guidelines of the piano paesistico regionale (landscape type #13 in the regional landscape plan) – aims at recovering the natural character of the maria pia area. The area becomes expression of all local landscape systems through the reinterpretation of signs and elements of the existing landscape.the recovery of permeability occurs through cross-connection systems between the landscape of the reclamation and of the wetland of calich and the coastal landscape, taking into account the new functions related to accommodation facilities and recreational activities. The recovery of the longitudinal permeability involves the creation of new functions and activities along the existing streets of the town through the introduction of the dune and pine forest. 
The project is at the center of a system of landscapes and reweaves relations with the surrounding vegetation and landscape structure. The calich park is the project  area that manages the relationship between the structure and its new front on the pond, creating new relationships through a system of views, trails, piers. The water itself, present on both sides of the area, becomes material for the project and – moving through the structures – suggests the entrance to a dune system linked to the new facilities. The closest area to the private areas is identified by mediterranean gardens composed of luxurious forms and spaces that recreate the typical elements of the mediterranean vegetation. Dunes and umbrella-pine wood do not only reconnects the boundaries but also break in the project recapturing their space, by tracing new corridors for the connection to the beach and by relating with the new facilities and accommodation services.the beach park embracing the pools, moves into soft ground movements and takes the guests along the route connecting the beach and the resort. The pine wood, which permeates most of the green areas in the project, creates shaded areas that include parking lots and sports areas.the use and reconstruction, on most of the project area, of the  plants and vegetation typical from the region allow the project to meet excellent criteria of economic and financial sustainability: after an initial period of adaptation, the vegetation will in fact be able to support itself.landscape in the maria pia area, like most of the coastal  landscape around alghero, remained untouched for centuries; today it is the result of strong historical transformations that, as we have seen, took place recently at the hands of man. The project takes into account the origins, as well as those non-original elements that are today part of the landscape, that make the area recognizable by the local community and create a new space that, while providing new services, is fully reintegrated into its territorial context.