A scala Minore, small Mediterranean Projects

How important is the small scale in architecture? For a long time architects have reflected on the role of “small scale” design, often concluding that “the small” can become the very gap through which we connect with the world. More intimate dimensions seem to facilitate a physical and emotional relationship between people and the other—both human and non-human.

Starting from these reflections, architect Luca Esposito presents at the Moby Dick Hall, within the exhibition “A Scala Minore”, curated by Dr. Mariangela Catuogno, Director of Cultural Activities at Giardini Ravino, his personal interpretation of this delicate relationship through the display of drawings and models of four architectural elements: a pergola, a fence, a roofless room, and a screen.

Each of these elements contributes to a possible and imaginative Mediterranean narrative, where usefulness and beauty often coincide. They are objects conceived not as fully finished structures, but as subtle thresholds between the artificial world—architecture—and the world of nature. Small Mediterranean architectures that stage the ambiguous and delicate boundary between functional value and the harmony of the landscape.

Luca Esposito imagines a path in which these four identifying elements of a possible Mediterranean landscape, through case studies, offer reflections on the relationship between living space and landscape. The proposed solutions reveal the architect’s ability to reinterpret modern ideas while acknowledging the traditions of building in Mediterranean contexts, offering visitors an opportunity to reflect on the interplay between historical memory and innovation in architecture.