Mapping Venice (A Preview)

The beginnings of mapping a territory within Venice. 

The region of Cannaregio is situated along the island's Northern facade. A forgotten territory, it is a world away from the gondolas, glamour and gaudiness of central Venice. Small merchants warehouses and crumbling palazzos line three parallel canals. 

An oak frame is suspended in the design studio alongside the Cabinet of Curiosities. The frame contains six spines that pierce through the lagoon edge into the city's fabric. These six section lines slice through the territory at points where important moments of trade and salvage occur on the city facade. The trade of tomb stones. The Jetty of The Valese Metal Workshop. A Boat Repair Yard. Along these lines the workshops, merchants warehouses, spacial voids, canals and building masses are documented. (Click the image to view in higher quality.)

Venice is a city of 'Make Do and Mend' and the map narrates themes of trade and salvage within the region from the 15th Century until the present day. Within the map lines are traced, following historic character's narratives such as the 16th century painter Tintoretto, the renowned sculptor and architect Bartolomeo Bon and several noble merchants and trade yards. 

Further development on the map will reveal the intricate paths and journeys of trade, salvage, repair and shifts within the territory. 

Following from this a design for a 'Merchants Lock' will be embedded within the territory. This 'Lock' houses a merchant and his trade workshop. This will be the first mark of several into the existing city fabric. 

The Cartographer's Cabinet of Curiosities

An initial move was to explore the concept of creating a Lock. It is constructed to inhabit a gap within an existing building, the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. 

The Cabinet contains three optical tools and a series of pegs. Each tool can be removed from the cabinet and taken to a site within the building to achieve altered views and perspectives. The pegs fit within shadow gaps around the museum allowing a single thread to run from the cabinet across the walls, surfaces and artifacts of the museum. This action maps the building.

Each peg is specific to its place in the building. Using methods such as clamp, wedge and embed the pegs delicately sit within the walls and in gaps. 

The initial move begins to consider inhabiting gaps in existing urban fabric and reducing functions into the smallest possible space. It is these themes that can be taken forward to future moves in Venice. 

Venice. A Visit to a Territory

City of Tourists. A city without a population? 


The territories of Venice are shrouded in fog, blurred between romantic dream and desolate wasteland. Buildings crumble, the tides erode and inhabitants are temporary. The city exists as a fantasy land and behind the extravagant show exists a degrading structure. The curtain lifted reveals a venerable stage. Actors, props and the scripts all in a delicate balance. 

How is it possible to inhabit such territories? To become resident in a unlived place. A museum.