DARYNA LYSYTSKA, one of our alumna from the Streetscape Territorries graduation studio in the Sint-Lucas Ghent Campus, has won the Van Hove Prize 2023 with her graduation project ‘Forgotten Treasure’ on the Venice Lido barrier island. Congratulations!

The chosen context for the development of the master graduation project was Lido, in the Venice Lagoon (Italy). In this rather atypical island within the larger touristic area, alternative urban redevelopment scenarios are possible. Contrary to most of Venice Lagoon islands, Lido’s streetscapes are defined by traditional transport means (cars, buses, motorcycles, cycles here coincide with vaporetos, gondolas and ferries) and buildings have proper land footprints (the buildings are not standing directly in the lagoon), allowing alternative non-tourist based land uses. This area in the lagoon was considered a potential base to critically rethink the qualities of the whole area’s urban and natural landscape and its inherent socio-economic networks.

The studio started from the idea that the lagoon needs higher levels of productivity (individual and shared working spaces, incubation centres, R&D centres, innovation centres etc), parallel to sustainable tourist developments, while dealing with global challenges like climate change. The architectural interventions were be developed within this new glo-cal context, rethinking Venice’s streetscapes.

Below follows Daryna’s successful project approach:

The pressing concerns about the preserving Venetian cultural traditions, the restoration of Lido’s architectural heritage, the promotion of local products, and the revival of forgotten places highlight a need for different architectural interventions. The recovery, promotion, and education of Italian crafts will be tools to revive abandoned spaces across Lido. Activating forgotten areas involves four site-specific, streetscape-related strategies: a tailor-made intervention for Clay production, the renovation of an iconic Boat house Squero that will serve as the bridge between Venice and Lido’s crafts, the creation of a flexible structure that will serve as a space for the exhibition and education of various crafts and finally, the urban furniture will serve as a means to draw attention to the various shops situated throughout Lido. Read more (thesis also full text available with login).

The exhibition of the 10 nominated projects will be accessible at the Architect’s House in Brussels every working day, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. from October 26, 2023.