An ancient dialogue

Santa Maria del Piano… – Reuse Italy architecture competition

The main theme of the project is based on the dialogue between the existing building and the new intervention:
the starting question is precisely that of how to “freeze” the actual state of Santa Maria del Piano to preserve its historical memory but allowing its regeneration and refunctionalization. In line with the ultimate aim of the project, namely to donate a new space for meditation and reflection,
the intervention deals with recovering the spaces of the complex through the placement of 3 new volumes within the plan of the project site. The first volume, the “Pelagus Nave”, resumes the development of the main nave of the Church, creating a space enclosed within the ruins of the same. This space becomes a diaphragm between the main access and the space in which nature has taken possession of the building.
The apse and the transept therefore become a space of contemplation and meditation hidden by the vegetation that has grown spontaneously and define a new protected and intimate space in which to linger and meditate. The second volume, “Camera Obscura”, is designed as a
closed and hermetic volume, set in the missing volume of the left wing of the monastic complex. This volume is positioned to protect the 5 columns, enclosed in a collected and intimate space, where one can find oneself in meditation and sharing.
The third volume, where the refectory is located, is positioned on the existing footprint of the right arm of the complex, closing the system of the monastic complex and creating a green corridor between the new and the old volume. The tower is the final symbol of the desire to consolidate the actual state of the complex, no intervention is desired but we want to exploit the verticality of this element as a
landscape symbol and reminder of the spirituality of the complex. The green spaces surrounding the complex must support the project, becoming “en plein air” gardens for meditation and contemplation.