In between, an artifact: multiscale hybrid architectural projects for the peri-urban landscape

Peri-urban areas constitute their own spatial system; a new rhizomatic city that brings together a heterogeneous mosaic of identities, uses and relationships. These ecologically and programmatically rich contexts are fluid, dynamic and ambiguous. As a result, urban planning has not generally produced satisfactory solutions for structuring these environments. In the absence of a coherent spatial strategy and institutional framework capable of re-composing peri-urban areas, architecture emerges as a tool capable of responding to the fluid and mutating character of these apparently chaotic landscapes. This paper analyses how contemporary architecture can enhance the coherence of peri-urban areas at a territorial scale through specific interventions. By exploring five case studies, it takes the architectural project as a working tool and explores some design strategies that can be effective in peri-urban contexts. The case studies share several characteristics that enable them to have a transformative impact on peri-urban areas. First, they function across the multiple scales of the peri-urban landscape. Second, they demonstrate a capacity to redress fragmentation and address diversity. Third, they signify the peri-urban landscape by constructing a new centrality on a territorial scale. Fourth, they assume the mutant condition of peri-urban environments through supports that offer programmatic indeterminacy. Five, they operate as infrastructural artifacts.