Closed churches in Venice. Mapping, projects and reuse criteria of a building constellation for the foundation of a city-new idea

Abstract

The island of Venice, with more than thirty churches closed, is now a case of national interest. The vocation of reuse of these buildings would naturally be that of exhibition spaces. Even this vocation would coincide with the destiny of Venice: an open-air museum. After the physic and photographical mapping of these places, it seems possible that they become spaces of immaterial production. A return to the productive Venice, as in the nineteenth century, to prospect a real change of paradigm, able to innervate the entire urban system. The investigated hypothesis of reuse moves not only within linguistic and spatial constraints dictated by the architecture, but also within legal constraints: land-use plans, the legal regime of the public domain, the protection of cultural heritage and the protection of the destination to Catholic cult.

Keywords

• Chiese chiuse
• Venezia
• Idea di città
• Policentrismo
• Riuso del patrimonio culturale