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REUSE THE LAKE CHAPEL
ReUse Italy Competition
AIM
Creating an active community centred on the church, in such a way that it is highlighted, protected and harmonized with its landscape.
LIVING
Every well-structured society needs a place of gathering, assembly and activity: the plaza. The value of “piazza” in Italian cities and even more in front of churches has never ceased to be an important aspect of life and architecture. Such a plaza is created around our church in a round shape, to highlight it and place it in the centre. Around it, along the entire perimeter of this circular platform, are arranged the accommodations for the pilgrims and visitors of the auditorium (90 persons in total).
The aim is to create a neighbourhood with accommodation on a scale smaller than or equal to that of the church. That is why we are choosing to create only single, double or triple occupancy accommodations. To make the community even more active, apart from the central plaza, there are smaller meeting spaces between the accommodations.
LANDSCAPE
In addition, we care about maintaining the sense of the peaceful landscape that lies in the path of the pilgrims with the figure of the church projecting above it. If we were in a city the church with its square could be part of the urban scenography. But in our case, the whole of the accommodation additions is trying to become part of the topography. Thus, the neighbourhood surrounding the church is placed lower than the plaza, so that it does not overlap it and the rooftops are slightly lower than the existing ground. As one approaches the church from a distance there is still the image of the church looming in the landscape. The excavated soil can be used to create planted rooftops and public planting containers. With the subsidence of the neighbourhood, the church becomes even more of a sacred place, as a buffer zone is created around it and no one can approach it except through a single entrance.
This entrance is essentially a bridge that connects the via di Francigena way to the plaza. The bridge is covered by 7 gates, which narrow as one progresses towards the temple, symbolizing the increasingly difficult trials a believer has to go through to reach theosis (inspired by the John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Process). Above the level of the plaza, there is only one communal unit, which “has a dialogue” with the church, without overtaking it in height. This unit includes:
Ground floor: the auditorium and common dining room,
1st floor: a café with a view of Lake Bolsena from its terrace and a space for community activities such as sports, yoga, meditation, crafts. Basement: dressing rooms.
MATERIALS
The main material used in the proposal is stone, a material abundant in the area, as due to Bolsena which is a lake of volcanic and tectonic origin, there are many quarries around it. It is the most suitable material for building around the stone church but it also has very good features. Wood and metal are used as supplementary materials, as well as concrete in some walls and for the connection of the stone structure (chainage).
CHURCH
Inside the monument, a platform is placed above the ground whith a fixed distance from the walls. In that way it is possible to visit the church, pray, do concerts, ceremonies, but not make any direct contact with this respectful “exhibit” as in a museum. This distance between platform and wall is intensified by the water element, which has a double symbolism: it is a reference to John the Baptist whose church existed there before, but also to the level of purity that a believer longs to reach. Functionally, the water element can act as a cooling element.
The new roof of the temple distributes its loads at the points where the old roof probably did: at the 8 corners of the octagon. The infrastructure still exists; therefore, it is used to support a lightweight wood and metal structure. The skeleton of the roof remains visible as the roof itself is made of glass, so that it allows light to pass through, bathing the interior and giving the impression of something divine. Up to a height, the roof is surrounded by wooden blinds that follow the shape of an octagon. They protect against excessive radiation
and act as a ventilation .
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