The Yards of Tbilisi
Tbilisi, Georgia
PhD Research, candidate Duccio Fantoni, 2022-Ongoing
Politecnico di Milano, DAStU, AUID
Image by Salome Katamadze
In the contact zone of different Empires, Tbilisi has embodied the negotiations and clashes of different fascinations and political ambitions, producing a layered field of urban experimentations. Along this trajectory, the Yards undergo significant urban changes with a surprising ductility, passing from being tenement houses to Soviet Kommunalkas and, again, private dwellings. In the background of these processes, the Yards have re-enacted different narratives, maintaining their spatial relations through constant alterations and performing as a genetic matrix for contemporary spontaneous urban transformations.
Image by Salome Katamadze
Image by Dimitri Yermakov, 1893
The research investigates the Yards of Tbilisi, shared outdoor spaces with verandas and balconies on the perimeter, bridging the street’s public life to the interiors’ domestic realm. Despite being underrated as a minor vernacular, these places implicitly suggest the latent possibility of an unexpected urban quality. This peculiar urban phenomenon has constantly adapted to the transformations of the city both in its physical and narrative dimensions.
Oil painting by Elene Akhvlediani
The research re-traces these trajectories, composing a digital archive of the Yards of Tbilisi, to re-collect the scattered in various media, from archival original drawings to infrastructural maps, from paintings to movies, from photographs to ephemera.
directed by Levan Akin
The Yards of Tbilisi
Tbilisi, Georgia
PhD Research, candidate Duccio Fantoni, 2022-Ongoing
Politecnico di Milano, DAStU, AUID
Image by Dimitri Yermakov, 1893n
Image by Salome Katamadze
The research investigates the Yards of Tbilisi, shared outdoor spaces with verandas and balconies on the perimeter, bridging the street’s public life to the interiors’ domestic realm. Despite being underrated as a minor vernacular, these places implicitly suggest the latent possibility of an unexpected urban quality. This peculiar urban phenomenon has constantly adapted to the transformations of the city both in its physical and narrative dimensions.
In the contact zone of different Empires, Tbilisi has embodied the negotiations and clashes of different fascinations and political ambitions, producing a layered field of urban experimentations. Along this trajectory, the Yards undergo significant urban changes with a surprising ductility, passing from being tenement houses to Soviet Kommunalkas and, again, private dwellings. In the background of these processes, the Yards have re-enacted different narratives, maintaining their spatial relations through constant alterations and performing as a genetic matrix for contemporary spontaneous urban transformations.
The research re-traces these trajectories, composing a digital archive of the Yards of Tbilisi, to re-collect the scattered in various media, from archival original drawings to infrastructural maps, from paintings to movies, from photographs to ephemera.