Exploring Mobile Architecture for Open-air Tourism with Crippaconcept: A Live Experience Study.
From October 2-7, 2023, an extraordinary workshop was held in the heart of Chianti, an event that highlighted innovation in outdoor tourism by involving university students and researchers within an exceptional context such as the Orlando in Chianti Glamping Resort of the Vacanze col Cuore group. The workshop titled “Mobile Architecture for Outdoor Tourism” took place at the urging of Crippaconcept, which has already been collaborating for years with the AUDe – Architecture and Urban Design laboratory of the University of Pavia on issues related to outdoor tourism and, in particular, on the development and realization of mobile homes increasingly in harmony with the surrounding environment.
In this workshop proposed by the University of Pavia and also involving Universidad de Salamanca, Opole University of Technology, University of Turku and University of Coimbra, we focused on the development of mobile units and their master plans. Mobile homes are increasingly in demand and loved by those who choose camping villages for their open-air vacations, and over the years they are undergoing a major transformation thanks to technological innovations and increasingly sustainability-conscious tools and materials.
Professor Carlo Berizzi, director of the AUDe laboratory explains, “For five years the AUDe – Architecture and Urban Design laboratory with Crippaconcept has been carrying out research on the topic of mobile homes for open-air tourism. Within this, the project Summer Schools (or workshops) represent a time to bring ideas to life through the involvement of students and to their creative energy. This year the choice was made to hold the workshop inside a glamping resort so that participants could experience staying in maxicaravans while offering a full immersion in the context of outdoor tourism. The participation of guests from different countries who gave lectures on the topics of sustainable tourism and minimal living further pushed the research forward. At the end of the activities, 8 design proposals for outdoor living units emerged that differed in language and conception
The participants divided into groups then developed actual projects that were presented in front of the attendees and the committee in charge, which reviewed them and chose the winner: Play ROOM di David Queirós, Dominik Puchałka, Miriam Rebecchi , tutor Lorenzo Quaglini.
“In this evolutionary journey of maxicaravans we are being accompanied by the University of Pavia,” explains Sergio Redaelli, Crippaconcept CEO, “because we believe that only from research and the development of new ideas can innovation be born. Collaborating with young university students means bringing fresh air to the sector and to our company, which has always wanted to evolve and which at this time is faced with both the challenge of sustainability and the challenge of placing individual mobile homes in master plans uniquely designed for the territories where the campsites are located. The projects that have been submitted are very interesting, we congratulate the winners. We will certainly have a chance to evaluate whether any of the proposals can be applied in reality as was the case with Wonderland.
We are also particularly grateful to the Vacanze col Cuore group for hosting this activity at the Orlando in Chianti Glamping Resort that we believed in and supported, providing an ideal space for creativity and learning in the heart of Tuscany. This allowed the students to experience a full immersion in the context of open-air tourism, making possible a unique and valuable experience.”
“We were honored and delighted,” closes Loek Van de Loo, owner of Holidays with Heart, “to have hosted the university students as well as their professors, both because we granted them the opportunity to experience glamping and because we brought them closer to the product, mobile homes and tents, experimenting with it and being inspired by it.”
The Summer School Mobile Architecture for Outdoor Tourism demonstrated how research and creativity can transform the travel experience, offering nature lovers a unique way to explore the world in comfort and style. Certainly, the hands-on experience helped the students to carry out their assigned task even more thoroughly, and the resulting projects demonstrated this.
