Take a run down, semi-derelict, working class periphery neighbourhood on the Sardinian coast and transform it into a destination with no new designs and very little infrastructure. How?

Sant’Elia Resort is an initiative, an imaginary place, and a project proposal by architects Cristiano Pistis and Gricelys Rosario for Cagliari’s farthest stretching periphery: Sant’Elia. In 2006 the local authorities gave 30 million Euro for the requalification of this area and a project that until today remains unrealized.
Inspired by the unique characteristics of Sant’Elia, its coastline, views, urban voids and reinforced concrete buildings, in their free time the two architects dreamed a plan.
Their idea stems from the need of new perceptions when imagining the city; defining spaces as opposed to occupying them. Sant’Elia Resort capitalizes on the ‘existing’ – natural resources, local heritage, underused urban space – in order to give them a new ecological/environmental role, it focuses on the lives of the low-income residents by seeking to create a local economy benefiting existing residents and to improve the quality of life through revitalising public space. Sant’Elia Resort acquires an new identity for Sant’Elia as a getaway from the city, a pleasant place to pass time, eat local food, take part in sporting activities, and discover the area’s heritage and wildlife, an identity that would have been unthinkable just a few years previously.

Sant’Elia Resort is an open platform for ideas, debate and thought development, to participate please visit : http://www.santeliaresort.com