METECHO

The abandoned fortress building was created in 1530 and its use implies its occupation by monks and farmers who cultivate and manage agricultural land owned by a monastery. The building has been through different historical phases that eventually led to abandonment. This site is out of time and has been frozen in a dormant state, tending towards disuse. Abandonment, however, is not a static condition but advocates a transition between two different situations. One is when the building is in use and the other one is when it’s abandoned. So, it represents a transitional path to something new.

Ruins contain a creative energy that triggers the need for artists and sensitive people to "inhabit" such spaces and give them a new use and a new life. The image of a partially damaged building awakens the desire of two friends to reuse it and revitalize it, using the cidori, a wooden construction based on three elements that create a joint that does not require any screws. They start by building their workshop and then they move on to other living spaces such as the kitchen, the dining hall, the dorms and other communal spaces. The goal is the creation of a self-sustaining system that can operate independently over time. The intervention is inspired by the history of the place and respects what has been there, it acknowledges and appreciates it, but it is clearly differentiated from its current form. The aim is to highlight what is there now as an important part of its history, and in this way to revive the spirit of the place and provide a continuity in the narrative. Communal rituals define the coexistence of individuals as a supreme necessity in one's daily life. This dynamically developing system, comes to create an architecture that promotes the commune in itself, promotes people to participate in its creation, to participate in its evolution and to participate in its functioning, thus participating in their association with each other. METECHO is about the revival of an abandoned building and the spirit of the place through references of history and interpretations of the communal monastic ritual, whose dynamic evolution eventually prevents anything alive from becoming static.