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YACademy: Earth Architecture

The Abandoned Town of Craco, Italy

A digital rendering of a pathway leading up a hillside toward an ancient stone city or village, with multiple levels and buildings. The orange pathway weaves through the terrain with several people walking along it.
Hilly landscape with terraced fields and clusters of buildings in the foreground.
An overhead view of a cityscape with a river, featuring a red line outlining a route through the city, past various buildings and landscape features.

Our project aims were to bring back the life that once defined Craco before landslides forced its abandonment. Rather than rebuilding the town, we restore the rituals that shaped daily life. The ruins remain untouched, preserving their historical significance. We inhabit Craco without possession.

Because the town was abandoned due to geological instability, not social decline, our interventions respect this condition. New additions are lightweight, reversible, and carefully inserted within the ruins. Timber-frame workshop structures sit inside existing shells, creating pause points along a curated path. These spaces support activities rooted in memory: cooking, crafts, harvesting, and shared meals. A continuous path weaves through Craco, reinforcing stabilized foundations and contrasting materially with the historic fabric. Viewpoints and platforms frame the landscape while guiding visitors from the base to the tower.

Permanent dwellings are placed outside the unstable zone, on the more secure side of the cliff. Built on pile foundations with gabion platforms, the homes are constructed from rammed earth made using crushed brick from local landslide debris. This transforms fragments of collapse into new life, reviving memory through material.

Comparison of maps and photographs related to Italy, Basilicata, and Craco, showing geographic features, urban fabric, and landscape changes such as landslides and cliffs.
Aerial view of a city with a river on the right side. A hiking trail marked in red is visible winding through residential and natural areas.
Image showing a landscape map, with inset aerial photos of a historical site on a hilltop, including buildings and walls, and a diagram of land features and suggested development areas.
Map layout showing a car park, living pods with rammed earth houses, a journey entrance with a ramp entering Graco, religious spaces, silence points, a workshop place, and a chapel.
Diagram illustrating stages of a carpentry or building project, including workshops, construction, and finishing phases with illustrations of people working and building structures.
Architectural drawing of a building section and floor plan, showing structural details and interior layouts.
Image showing wood paneling samples and a DIY wall cladding diagram. The diagram illustrates shaping and applying wood veneer to a wall, including steps like cutting, mixing glue, and pressing the veneer.
Black and white photo of a mountain with a winding path leading to a structure at the top, in front of a modern glass building.
Aerial view of a hilly landscape with roads, trees, and modern buildings in a town or city.
A sketch of a cityscape with buildings, a church with a bell tower, and a background with a faint landscape. The sketch emphasizes the buildings with red highlights on some structural elements.
Pictures of the renovation of Helfštýn castle, showing different parts of the castle including stone walls, interior spaces, and modern architectural elements integrated into the historic site.