There are many ways to understand an area. You can get to know the neighborhood by talking to the people who live there, or through books and information about the region. Among the many ways to experience regions, I wanted to understand Caporciano through the materials in there.

By actually touching and smelling various materials existing in Caporciano, the senses such as temperature, touch, and smell of the material were documented. For each material, what you see with your eyes and what you feel when you touch it with your hands are sometimes the same and sometimes completely different. The way to experience and understand Caporciano through the senses will be another new way of understanding the village.

Abruzzo is a province located in central Italy, famous for its beautiful natural scenery, and is visited by thousands of trekkers every year. From Rome it takes 3 and a half hours by train to San Demetrio, near Caporciano, and an hour by local train from Pescara, east of Abruzzo, to the nearby city of Popoli. Among the many Wandern Routes in Abruzzo, I choose the Wandern Route between San Demetrio and Popoli. San demetrio and Popoli are two citi es about an 8 hour walk away. Caporciano is located between these two cities, so I think it's a good place to stop in the middle of an 8 hour Hiking itinerary.

I would like to introduce in this itinerary with the interpreted Tholos. Around Caporciao and Bominaco there are five Tholoi that have existed for the last 100 years. Tholos is a small Shelter built in the past for shepherds to rest or to protect from unfamiliar beasts. Abruzzo's shepherds had to shepherd the rugged mountain passes and plains, and Tholos used to be a place for them to take a break from the heat or a quick bite to eat in the rain.

I think the hikers are modern shepherds. Because they carry their bags and walk for hours. Then sit for a while, lie down and rest. And explore nature. Like shepherds. Just as the shepherds of the past needed Tholos, I think that the Hikers of the present day need also a new Tholos. If Tholos, newly reinterpreted as a middle ground in Hikers journey, acts as an attraction in Caporciano, I thought that it could serve as a starting point where various people can gather in a village again and start something again.Tholos is a small shelter in the form of a dome built by nature stone without a mortar. It is large enough for one or two person to enter and rest, and the view from the outside is as follows. When you go inside, irregularly shaped stones are stacked on top of each other to create a space. The lower wall is thick, and as it goes up, the thickness of the wall becomes thinner, creating a dome shape. The stones get smaller as you go up to the top, and you can feel the unique sense of space where light seeps through the small stones.

Structural features are better understood when viewed in cross-section. The stones are gradually placed inside without mortar to form a dome, and the most important characteristic is to obtain stability. Also, since all stones are natural stones and have irregular shapes, in some cases, Timber or adobe are used to supplement Stability as a structural feature. I wanted to actively utilize the reinterpreted Tholos design by focusing on the partial use of wood in Tholos and the way it was built by stacking.

Therefore, I wrote down the ones that I thought were important among the properties of Tholos, and I thought that if these properties were interpreted in new Tholos, the original concept of Tholos could be maintained even if the material changed. The first is that it is a dry construction method without the use of mortar. The second is the way it is built by stacked, and the third is the spatiality when it is made in this way of tectonics. The Area that I was interested in in Caporciano is the green area in the middle as seen in the photo. This Area is all surrounded by walls, and at the same time, it is characterized by a large height differences between the upper and lower part of Caporciano. And also it is a place where all roads intersect, so I thought that it had a great potential for a new community in Caporciano.

First of all, I wanted to connect the upper and lower levels. To bridge the height difference of about 5.5 meters, you can access it through a long staircase at the top, and you can access it directly from the ground level on the right. Second, I made it possible to access the site directly from the lower Street Via Fontana dell amore The difference between the previous ground level and the site level is about 1.5 meters, so I broke down this wall and designed a terraced bench to sit on, in order to breaking down the boundary there is a large tholos for several hiking groups in the middle and two small tholos arranged along the topography on either side of it. Each Tholos has a watch fire and is designed to function as a small shelter through an opening that opens into the sky.

And Also There is a wide open space between the newly created terraced bench and the Tholos, so it is designed as a place where hikers and local residents can meet and communicate with each other.

If you look at the cross section, Tholos, which is built by stacking up with a new material, wood, has an opening at the bottom that allows the inside and outside to communicate between the woods, and the roof part is designed to be closed so that you can experience and concentrate the light more dramatically through the upper opening.

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