Type of project
Office
Year
2008
Tag
Landscape Corten Steel Restoration Geometry Glass Cement Virus
Mentions
Abitare N.460
Status
Unattained
Location
Todi, Italy
Tradition and innovation are not in competition; instead, together they create a third approach that is completely new.
Projects like Aria in San Bartolomeo, near Todi, reaffirm the human character of contemporaneity.
Our project is divided into 3 stages: restoring the historic structure, organising the new volume, and establishing the points of contact between these two parts.
The village buildings have strong, thick walls and a surface to volume ratio that limits the floor area.
This distinctive feature led us to create a suspended structure, lightweight in design and stature which, in addition to solving the functional problem, creates a kind of telescope between Montecastello and Todi, emphasising the principal trajectory of the landscape.
To highlight the complex’s almost metaphysical loneliness, we will undertake a philological restoration of the stone shell. By repairing all of the still-evident historical cavities, which will be rendered visible by the restoration of the masonry, we will produce a shadow; the assemblage of shadows will form an impression of all the façades of San Bartolomeo over the centuries.
Only later will we carve façades on the external perimeter wall to create the apertures required for the new project.
Considering the presence of the village as a constraint, our new project also takes into account the projection of its image onto the lower level, identifying the system of connections that vertically connect the two souls of the project.
Therefore, according to our reference system, the disjointed, elongated shape strictly marks out a contour line.
This structural belt is tightly wrapped around the hill, featuring a façade, make entirely of floor-to-ceiling windows facing Todi, within which the four administrative departments are structured.
The rooftop garden will help to optimise the services within the new transparent office spaces.
A restaurant and a 350-seat auditorium with independent access will complete the project.
