Born again with the music

The object of my work of thesis is about making a space dedicated to music and concerts inside the ruin of the church of Saints Luca and Giuliano, also called “Diruta” - which means fallen in Italian dialect. The church is located in the small village of Grottole, in the province of Matera.

Grottole is a small village perched on a hill, characterized by steeps slopes and small stone houses overlooked by the ruins of the church and the feudal “Sichinulfo” castle. The “Diruta Church” appears whit several damages: it has suffered major collapses along the facade wall, in the apse and an almost total lack of coverage of the central aisle and the dome. The church has been in a state of abandonment since 1750. The building is distributed over two different floors, with a difference in height of about 8 metres. One floor is the actual church with the main facade that overlooks one of the alleys of the old village. The other consists of caves placed under the apse, located along a driveway. Going into the details of the project, starting from the main facade - where the collapsed cantonal used to be - we find the new entrance made of U-glass panels. Along the central nave there is a retractable telescopic seating system. In this way the space can also be used as an exhibition space. The solution adopted for the roof is a tensile structure in steel cables with opposite curvature, in which the membranes coverage are arranged on the intrados or on the extrados of the cables. I wanted to realize a light coverage, which gave the idea of a non-permanent structure that could create an enclose environment but at the same time doesn’t weigh down or interfere excessively with the existing structure. The backdrop as well is made according to the concept of lightness. It too is made of membranes and is carried by a spatial reticular structure which rests in four corners and has also the task of bringing the various supporting elements to the scene. In the transept we find: on the left the backstage area, made on two levels; on the right the bar that leads to a panoramic terrace. In the area that leads to the bell tower, we find the toilets, service areas, and another terrace. Three distinct environments have been created in the caves: one is used as the connection between the two different levels, one is a rehearsal room, one is a private studio and on the middle level a storage.