SALINE – Il Palazzo di Benessere by Natalia Piórecka

Project visuals

The project images show how the wellness idea is developed through atmosphere, structure and material research.

The form language supports the idea of a wellness building shaped by material process.

The structural image helps explain how research and building logic work together.

Project overview

Natalia’s graduation project reimagines salt as more than a problem for construction. In Venice, salt has a historic and environmental presence, so SALINE turns it into a design asset through treatment spaces, material studies and controlled daylight.

The proposal draws on crystallisation, precipitation and salt farming, using these processes to shape programme and atmosphere. That makes the building read as a salt treatment centre rather than a generic wellness space.

How salt shapes the design

• Salt is used as a material and cultural reference, not only as branding.
• Daylight research supports the treatment and atmosphere of the spaces.
• Biodesign thinking links architecture, biology and industrial design.
• The Venice setting gives the project a stronger relationship to history, water and identity.
• Wellness is connected to spatial experience, not just a list of rooms.

Portfolio lesson

Material-led projects are strongest when the reader can see the chain of thinking: site condition, scientific research, prototype, programme and building form. SALINE has that chain, and the rewrite makes it easier to follow.

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Showcase a material research project

Architecture Social can feature student work where material research, site context and design evidence come together clearly.

• Explain the material problem or opportunity.
• Show how research changed the programme or spatial idea.
• Use images that make the material and atmosphere legible.
• Keep the project readable for people outside the studio review.

Submit your project

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Architecture Social view

Stephen’s recruiter view is that experimental architecture is most convincing when the designer can explain the judgement behind the experiment. The software, prototypes or science should support a clear spatial outcome.