Hut-spot Pavilion
Location: Cesena, IT
Year: 2026
Type: Pavilion.
Status: Built
Team: Maria Vittoria Tesei, Flavio Martella. Forestry consultant: Beatrice Tesei
Biodiversity habitat device. HUT-SPOT stands on the edge of the Romagna hills, where woodland vegetation is slowly reclaiming an asphalted clearing and former tennis court abandoned for decades. Situated precisely at this threshold between the man-made and nature, the pavilion gathers prunings and dry branches into a modular wooden framework configured as a ziggurat—a layering of residues that is both primordial and contemporary.
Its name embodies a dual nature: 'hotspot' refers to a hub of high biodiversity and connectivity, while 'hut' evokes a basic shelter offered to humans and non-humans alike. The pavilion translates these ideas into an architectural prototype that can also adapt to urban contexts. The structure thrives on contrasts: between the regular human grid and irregular prunings, and between artificial materials (concrete, fibreglass, nylon straps) and natural elements. The modular voids accommodate branches as fragments of landscape, creating a constructed section of the local undergrowth.
More than an object, HUT-SPOT is a shared refuge addressing habitat fragmentation. Its prunings and branches nourish an evolving ecosystem where fungi and bacteria drive decomposition, attracting saproxylic insects, solitary bees, birds, small mammals, and amphibians to its porous base. A central seat completes this community, welcoming humans to share the fundamental needs for shelter and connection with other species.
Arising from the tension between controlling nature and yielding space to it, the pavilion occupies the center of the disused court as a metaphor for this dynamic. The seating area offers a place to pause, listen, and observe an ecosystem in flux as wood changes and organisms proliferate. HUT-SPOT endures precisely because it accepts change, existing at the intersection of architecture, landscape, and natural succession to envision new forms of closeness between humans and non-humans.
