Analysis device: mega-structures on the threshold

The urban framework experiences a permanent face-off with transformation and 47 evolution processes, both inside and outside it, and also on the thresholds. The connections toward a more territorial frame, such as the network of infrastructures are more evident at this stage because of a lower density. The visible interfaces within the city boundaries, as a sort of urban gates, are not only infrastructures, but also large industrial complexes. Beyond every single case, with its own characteristics, all these situations concern huge artifacts in which architectural qualities are also recognized. Following my present PhD research path on the scientific mega-structures and their role inside the architectural practice, I will explicit how they could be an efficient device as a provocative case of study to struggle the citys capacity to menage its thresholds. The relation with both the city, on one side, and the nature on the other but also within more complex area in which these two entities are not so distinct can be studied in a register of different scales: from the architectonic level of a laboratory building to the landscape of an antenna, 3 kilometers long, for gravitational wave. It is not just a matter of discussing the placement of these structures, but also how their strong symbolic meaning can be managed and absorbed by the city