Metulj 0.1, 2021

Co.So!, Pizza Grande, Palmanova, Italy 
AR augmented reality

Metulj 0.1 is a site-specific digital intervention that interrogates the rigid geometric layout and martial origins of Palmanova, a UNESCO protected ideal star fortress. Rather than being conceived as an organic civic space, the city was engineered strictly as a military engine. This project utilizes Augmented Reality (AR) to overlay a virtual, monumental sculpture onto the central hexagonal layout of the Piazza Grande, disrupting its historic architectural permanence with digital fluidity.The project maps the elastic geometry of Palmanova's defensive planfrom its star shaped ramparts to its central core reinterpreting these rigid lines into a new configuration of geometric bodies that morph into the silhouette of a butterfly. Drawing from Aztec mythology, where the butterfly represents the migrating souls of fallen warriors, Metulj 0.1 introduces a poetic counter narrative to the city's violent fortress history. By bridging traditional site geometry with computational modeling, the virtual monument serves as the 'urban spirit' (genius loci) of Palmanova. It reclaims contested public spaces through a synthesis of historical urbanism, collective memory, and digital ephemerality.