FROM HOLY SEPULCHER TO THE HOUSE OF CULTURE AND MEMORY OF THE PARTENIO

The project involves the recovery of the ancient cemetery of Pietrastornina and its reuse as a house of culture and memory of the Partenio. Starting from the desire to preserve the history of the place, the new intervention works on the edge of the sacred enclosure and forms new spaces dedicated to the memory, culture and faith.

According to Ettore Sottsass "fencing is the act together of recognition and appropriation of a portion of land. It is the act of its delimitation and separation from the rest of the world-nature. " The aim of this project is to give back to the community a common good that can become an attraction pole for the whole territory and to be an extension of the city's dynamics. The new functions included go to fill the lack of cultural spaces in the country, preserving the religious function that the site has always held. The new intervention respects the sacredness of the place and overlaps with lightness the ruins of the church and the traces of the walls of the two pre-existing service areas. The composition is the result of the analysis of the points of view and goes to enhance the panorama of the country and to the chain of Partenio on the high Irpinia and the valley of Caudina. The new functional block is lower of 5m than the cemetery floor, to accommodate the natural slope and to have the building less invasive. A long stairway follows the axis of the ruin and it allows access to the new chapel that is oriented respecting liturgical regulation that follow the east west axis. Three new blocks are placed at the edge of the fence. The first block is the reception, with an office and a workshop with services. The second block is a food area. The third block is an exhibition space. The structure is characterized by a base in reinforced concrete, which opens the eye towards the village, and from the upper floors made of laminated wood. The intent of the project was to build an artificial fragment of nature in the pre-existing landscape, working with a look that becomes an ethical feeling. Taking up the words of Luigi Ghirri, the modus operandi was to tell about places that seem to have lost all recognition.