Nuovo Mercato Marina in Messina: for a valorization of the design thinking through the analysis and the digital representation

Abstract

Full of history and identity, the architectural archives define themselves as privileged narrators of a construction process that exists or never existed, invaluable testimonies of the interactions and mixtures that have taken place between architecture, culture and society. The project for the Nuovo Mercato Marina in Messina, probably dating back to 1919, is part of the highly valuable archival collections, described in the cartouches by plans and perspective views, capable of celebrating the new Messina waterfront signed by Luigi Borzì, Santi Buscema and Rutilio Ceccolini.
The project is part of a post-earthquake revitalization program, consisting of new key relationships, through which hierarchies and shared architectural languages are established, through the creation of spaces for social interaction and cultural value. Despite the importance of the discovery, it is not possible to fully understand the design intent, as the documentation received today lacks elevations and sections useful for slavishly reconstructing the two-dimensional and three-dimensional drawings.
For the design and digital reconstruction, reference was made not only to the documentation in possession, but also to the tastes, symmetries and modules of the architecture designed in the area of the Messina port curtain wall. The analysis to understand the volumes, heights, and modules involved, more specifically, the analysis of the Palazzata building, the Banca d’Italia and the Piano Regolatore Generale designed by Luigi Borzì. These analyses provided a precise spatial image of the urban context in which the project was to be built.
The product is a digital model susceptible to formal interpretations, in any case useful for communicating the project of the Nuovo Mercato Marina in a more accessible way.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.20365/disegnarecon.34.2025.27