Infrastructure as interface. Thinking the urban and the high -speed station: italian case-studies.

This presentation will document some results of an ongoing research focusing on the role ofinfrastructure in contemporary design practice. The methodology is based on critical design theoryand combines theoretical aspects with a case-study approach, at the junction of infrastructure,urban design and architecture.It is already well documented that 19th and 20th century infrastructure have deeply affected theirprograms in order to face new challenges over the last 30 decades. Railway stations are leadingexamples in this fields: they have gradually implemented their design, that already integratedcommercial spaces and facilities, until involving in public space transformation.Instead, focusing on currents high speed stations in Italy, such as Torino Porta Susa, FlorenceBelfiorem and Rome Tiburtina, we can take into attention some aspects that are still to beexamined. Analyzing how those fabrics act as urban-space definers, I would stress that priorresidual conditions created by 19th and 20th century infrastructures – wherein parts of the city wheredisconnected or marginalized - are currently integrated in larger masterplans, in which the railstation acts as the primary integer of urban and architectural space.