Re-use the fallen Church

Idea projektu

Is it possible to bring back to life one of the most important religious buildings of Southern Italy? We tride to answer this quastion in our architectural project that was choosen for our project of the year in our university. Chiesa Diruta is a catholic church built in Grottole in the 15th century, in order to host the local community of clergymen and to become one the most important churches of the bishopric. It suffered a lot of damages due to earthquakes, fires, and building issues so it was soon abandoned. The main aim was to reuse this space of this abandoned Church as a Concert Hall.

Popis projektu

In our project we tried to carefully regenerate architectural structure of the church, as well as reorganize an interior space by choosing not a traditional way of preparing design. This project was created with the intent to preserve the link between architecture and nature throughout the time. The idea consists of regenerating the space and preserving the spirit of the place of the Italian town. We chose the method of devizualization of the new architecture, using translucent and reflective planars. They complete the look of the church, by standing in the background and giving all the attention to the authentic church. Thus, the new construction become a "ghost building" because of using glass to create the effect of dissolving into space, and filling the pause in the context of the urban space. Applying the Gestalt philosophy of "no presence "or" presence of absence", we preserve the impact of nature on the building, not only by the "ghost" forms, but also by not removing plants from the facades, to continue this theme of the thematic incorporation of the architecture and nature. All the main ruined parts - the roof, the walls, vaults, and arches became visible again but now only in the glass and copper to show the contrast of old and new but in the same time to save the essence of “genius loci”. In our project, we decided to regenerate the dilapidated tower, and because of that we could make view platforms outside the walls of the church on both sides. In addition to that the common space of the apse will become a great viewpoint to watch sunsets. All in all our project of regeneration of the fallen church is based on the method of devizualization of the new structures and on the thematic incorporation of the architecture and nature to save the essence of “genius loci”.

Technické informace

The main feature of the redevelopment was a radical change in the orientation of functional spaces. For a long period of time we had been thinking about how to accommodate everything in the most convenient way and finally went from the method "how it cannot be". In this version, the main entrance is organized from the apse, and the narthex is given to the artists ' rooms. Café is situated on the ground floor. In addition to the main hall, there is also a small lecture hall on the first floor. Copper became the main material in this project, as well as glass. The existence abundance of greenery shows that nature always prevails over the people creations, but at the same time it forms the dynamic of the space and give us a sense of calm.

Alena Kokueva, Silviya Al Ubed

Yaroslavl State Technical University

Russian Federation

Architektura

Projekt odevzdán

14. 07. 2021

Tag

Architektura Religious

Rada studentům

Re-use the fallen Church

Dear Alena, I read your review very carefully and I discovered your project pleasantly, which is very inspiring from the outset. It encourages reflection and the desire to perfect a job that is already quite successful. This is why I am giving you this little report of my impressions, hoping that it will be useful to you. The question is to revive the space and not the function of this building, cannot there be confusion? Can the dimension of the sacred subsist and take on another aspect despite the disappearance of the religious practice related to it? I think the choice of the concert hall is wise in this case, as long as the space and atmosphere it supports are adequate. The choice of "devisualization" seems to me to want to respond to this, by keeping the intervention in the background of the existing, thus trying to keep the (mystical?) Trace of the original building. But there, I think that many would see it as too much erasure on your part. Your project is linked to a theme that I discussed with students in graduation projects and is that of updating heritage through contemporary architecture. This is a solution to the conservation-creation polarity that we discovered thanks to the work of Alexandra Georgescu Paquin (I put the reference in French, I hope you will find material in the language of your studies: https://www.puq.ca/catalogue/livres/actualiser-patrimoine-par-architecture-contemporaine-2778.html). The examples studied for this phenomenon remind me of your project: The CaixaForum center in Barcelona (Arata Isozaki), the Reina Sofía National Art Center in Madrid (Jean Nouvel), and the Roman Theater Museum in Cartagena (Rafael Moneo). Paquin quotes many others. The expression of your structuring idea does not suffer from any theoretical weakness, however, I would recommend tempering this "absence approach" in the projection phase. Generally, I recommend that my students come back iteratively to the user, to "his" presence, and to his evolution in the space that we are setting up for him. Even if the enthusiasm of the project pushes us to explore the theoretical paths and the constructions of complex ideas, it is necessary at a time to return to the human dimension by taking charge of the “reception” of the information: how the user will adapt to space? Did we manage the project scale? For this purpose, I usually recommend dwelling on the cuts; they represent - in my opinion - the best indicator of the complexity and the success of the project. However, the only cut you offer does not provide a distinct reading of moods. Another indicator that may seem trivial to you but of which I consider the informational dimension (since it is my specialty!), It is the treatment of your views with a sky in the same tones as the building and which tends to confuse the reading. . As if we should not distinguish the original building from your intervention and the general environment. Do we have to make out some sort of gallery upstairs? overlooking the concert hall? If so, a sort of triforium (I'm giving this an anachronistic reference!), It is too little assertive because of the excess of transparency. Can you try replacing the glass railings with copper plates and see if that doesn't overwhelm the view while giving more "presence" to your architectural gesture. Because you have a gesture, a personal touch, it is very interesting and it would be a shame not to say it more.
20.03.2026

Nabil ROUBAI CHORFI

Kategorie

Copyright © 2026 INSPIRELI | All rights reserved. Use of this website signifies your agreement to the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and use of cookies.