Art's Centre in Bagnoregio, Viterbo

Bagnoregio is a small town near Viterbo, where there is the historical town of Civita di Bagnoregio. The regeneration of an abandoned area offers the opportunity to design a new cultural pole: the art’s center. This complex looks to better integrate the two souls of the town.

The analysis of the existing services at the urban and territorial scale, the interviews made to citizens and tourists, directed me towards the choice of creating an artistic pole, a cultural container as the only true engine for the development of a community, a place of meeting and personal growth not only for citizens but also for the thousands of people who come to visit this enchanted place every year. The goal is that the art’s center manifests itself as the continuation of the historic centre: the portion of the road that leads us to the project area is characterized by high retaining walls; the idea is to bend and fragment them to create fences that follow the differently inclined axes that reproduce the alleys of the town, The fences design the pubblic space and integrate the majestic trees that mark the arrival at the Civita Belvedere. The volumetric matrix is from the historical centre, the mass is made materially by the coating of basalt: this kind of stone is available locally, in a cave at the gates of the town. The project is made up of indoors and outdoors in communication with each other. In the pubblic space we find: an outdoor exhibition, a children’s area, a cavea and an outdoor library. The art’s center is made up of: a theater, an auditorium, a museum and the laboratories. The auditorium and the theater are designed to communicate with each other and also through the external public space. The museum space is characterized by double and triple heights, with the possibility to expand itself toward the outdoor. The roof terraces offer the opportunity to admire the surrounding landscape.