GONGO. Gorizia Nova Gorica

This volume documents the outcomes of the 2024-2025 cycle of "Studio due," an experimental inter-university design project involving seven laboratories. It brings together a community of approximately 300 students and teachers from the universities of Trieste, Naples Federico II, Salerno, and the Politecnico of Milan. The research focuses on "GONGO," the cross-border conurbation of Gorizia and Nova Gorica, specifically investigating the Transalpina railway yard. Timed with the "GO!2025" European Capital of Culture nomination, the area serves as a laboratory to test architecture's role at the "mobile border". The project seeks to transform this linear infrastructural void into a strategic urban threshold capable of morphological stitching. Architectural design is treated as a cognitive tool to activate new forms of cross-border urbanity and civil responsibility. The publication presents a diverse "bestiary" of design positions, including housing interventions, university residences, and new civic systems. Methodological approaches vary from typological research and grid abstraction to the use of physical models as "material diaries". Ultimately, the volume reflects on architectural pedagogy and the transmissibility of methods within contemporary European margins.